


SeasonsStuck: Winter

by DevilishKurumi



Series: SeasonsStuck [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-12-01
Updated: 2012-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-26 18:11:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 43,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/286377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevilishKurumi/pseuds/DevilishKurumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winter rolls around, bringing fluffy sweaters, warm jackets, holidays and romantic entanglements a plenty.  Part II of a four part series, each part taking place during a specific season and all incorporating a specific clothing item popular during the season. Winter is for sweaters. Pairings will be updated if they change/are added to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Bringing the circle back, we're bouncing into Winter with the lovely Jade and Eridan. Feel free to wander over to the [SeasonsStuck tumblr](http://seasonsstuck.tumblr.com/) to see costume designs, ask questions, and tell me what you want to see because really, I'm writing this for you. It's all for you!!!  
> 

Jade sees Eridan talking to the same girl for three days in a row before she realizes she knows who the girl actually is.  There's a word for humans that like to get with Alternians - uh, hivebenders, she thinks, because of how they go on week-long tours of different troll homes, usually with sexy schemes in mind - and that girl is totally the most notorious hivebender on campus.

And Jade doesn't like the way she's coming on to Eridan.  She doesn't know him.  She doesn't know that he's desperate for affection and dumb and way too easy to enthrall, and she probably wouldn't care if she were actually trying to date him, but she knows the girl isn't into that sort of thing.  And it's completely rude of her!  She shouldn't take advantage of her friend like that!

So she politely inserts herself into the next conversation she sees between them, standing outside the art building, and says, "Hi!"  And just to be perfectly clear, she throws her arm around Eridan's shoulders, ignoring it when he winces.  The girl looks her up and down and doesn't look impressed by the way Eridan's dark coat clashes with her own vivid rainbow sweater.  Well, she doesn't know who she's messing with.  Or, well, whose _friend_ she's messing with.

"Hi," she says.  She sounds unimpressed, too.

"Harley," Eridan says, low in his throat and behind gritted teeth that interlock like a zipper.  "What are you doin' here?"

"I wanted to hang out!" she says, even though that's pretty much not at all what she had intended.  She'd been on her way back to her dorm room.  Whatever, she wants to hang with Eridan anyway.

"Oh."  He sounds surprised.  "Uh, okay.  Sure."

The girl gives Jade the evilest look she can with gray eyes shadow caking down her lids and says, "Guess I'll see you around."

"Maybe," Jade says for Eridan, who winces again.  That dirty look sticks in Jade's head and pisses her off, even when the girl turns and flounces off.  She's unable to stop herself from immediately revealing her intentions, the words spilling out of her mouth without thought.  "Oh my _God_ , Eridan, please, please, _please_ tell me you weren't trying to go out with _her_!"

To her surprise, Eridan looks at her as though she's completely crazy, reaching up to adjust the collar of his jacket, tugging it out from under her arm and straightening it.  "Fuck, her?  No.  That bitch is crazy.  Who wears gray eyeshadow when tryin' to hit on trolls?  That's a kinda desperation that's just fuckin' unbecomin', an' comin' from me, that's sayin' somethin'."

Jade's relieved - because she doesn't want Eridan to get used like that, obviously - and so she laughs and hugs him from the side.  "Good!  I was worried for a second there!"  She starts walking and Eridan doesn't really hesitate to walk with her, more than a pause before she puts him in motion.

"What, do you think I'm so fuckin' desperate I'd hit on just anybody who comes my way?"  She can hear the underlying bitterness in his voice, like he knows that the answer is yes and he's just asking it to make her feel guilty for knowing that he _does_ hit on just about anybody.  Well, used to.  He doesn't really any more - it's like some switch got flipped when he came to Earth, and instead of trying to pull anyone he could _in_ , he started pushing everyone he could _away_.

She sighs and shakes her head.  "Eridan...  C'mon.  You know I don't think that!  You're different now.  You don't do that."

Eridan doesn't reply; he just reaches up and tugs his scarf tighter around his neck.  She almost forgets, sometimes, that it's really her scarf, and that it's just on loan until his favorite one shows up in lost and found.  She wouldn't mind if he kept it.  She'd always thought it was kind of silly how he wore a scarf almost all year round, except in the warmer days of spring and most of summer, but Feferi had explained that his gills were more sensitive to temperature than even her own, and it made sense.

She reaches her hand under the scarf where it rests at the back of his neck and straightens the camera strap hiding under there so that it's not twisted.  "Did you take a lot of pictures today?" she asks, ignoring the way she can feel the fabric shift as his gills flutter.

"I guess," he says, sounding unhappy, and Jade thinks that's one of the biggest reasons why she can't let him go wandering around alone without at least saying hello.  She hates to see any of her friends be sad, especially ones that dive headlong into their emotions.  "Not much to take pictures of with all this fuckin' snow."

"Snow's pretty, though," Jade says, as though she's not used to it even after dealing with it for pretty much four years, now.  The truth is, she's not sure she'll ever get used to it, because she's so used to working with all the weirdest bits of space that sometimes, if she stares hard enough, she can see all the different designs and patterns in the snowflakes.  She thinks it's because she's so used to enlarging and shrinking things like universes and planets.  A little snow is nothing!

"Yeah, well.  A roll'a film full'a white is fuckin' borin'," Eridan grouses.  Jade rolls her eyes but doesn't say anything, especially about how she wishes he could see the universe like she does now.  "Went to one'a the shows on campus an' took some pictures of that, though.  Fuckin' dynamic angles all over the fuckin' place.  Kept gettin' jostled, though."

There's a tone in Eridan's voice that's rare to hear as he talks about the way the band really went along with the fact that he was standing up front taking pictures of them instead of listening to their shitty music.  It's pride, but not the arrogant kind.  It's the kind that's built up from experience, from going through trial and error and not having things go easy but still managing to do something awesome anyway, and she stares at the tiny little snowflakes that are starting to drift down and smiles at the sound of his voice.

"You're not even listenin', are you?" Eridan asks suddenly, and she looks at him, startled a bit.  He's got a weird sort of smile on his face that she's not sure she's ever seen before, and his voice isn't petulant or irritated that she _had_ sort of been zoning out on him.  "You're completely fuckin' translucent, Harley.  You always start zonin' out when the snow starts fallin', lookin' like you're starin' clear across to Prospit or somethin'."

Her cheeks flush and she punches him on the arm, lightly enough that he doesn't wince for once.  "Shut up, I was too listening.  Something about the band wanting copies of your photos of them for their... website?"

He nods.  "Not like I'm gonna fuckin' give them away for free.  Might as well pay me."

"I don't think they have to, you know."

"Whatever."

Jade can see the place where Eridan usually would turn left fast approaching, but she finds herself not really wanting him to go off and be depressed in his room.  He doesn't come over to hers and Feferi's dorm very often - usually because the two of them are too much for him to handle at once, she thinks - but Feferi has a late class (something about the politics of Indonesia in the 19th century???  Jade has no idea!), and maybe this will be a good way to keep herself from getting bored while still fulfilling her need to cheer poor Eridan up.

So, when she feels him shifting as if to turn, she instead tugs on him, her arm still around his shoulders.  "Hey, come see Reginald, he's gotten like a million times bigger since you last saw him!"  Eridan's shoulders tense up and he looks at her for a moment, eyebrows furrowed and she can see him questioning her motives.  "It's not a trap, promise.  Feferi's at class until... seven, I think?  C'mon, it'll be fun!"  She grins at him, "If you even _remember_ what fun _is_."

She can see him trying to figure out a way to turn her down, but she's a hard person to turn down in any way, shape or form, so after a moment he gives in and they pass their usual separation spot without a fight.

"When Fef comes back, I'm gone," he warns, and she wonders how much it must hurt to have your ex-moirail say that about you.  She won't tell Feferi, of course.  But still.

"She misses you, you know," she says after a quiet minute of walking in the snow.  He makes a noise of assent.  "You and her should get together on your own, some time, and talk.  I can't say for sure but I think if I were her, I'd really, really like that."

"Yeah, well."  It's as if she can see him curling in on himself, like she can see the holes in snowflakes.  "I didn't kill _you_."

"You were a different person," Jade says, almost scolding him for acting like such a jerk about something that had happened a long time ago.  Well, a relatively long time ago.  And it isn't as though Feferi's _still_ dead.

"Not that different."

She wants to point out every last detail that separates the Eridan she's come to know now from the one who trolled her during the game, but she refrains.  She won't try too hard with him - he's good at sensing when she's grasping at straws, and the last thing she wants is to make him upset at _her_.

"Just consider it," is all she says, and they walk the rest of the way to her dorm room in silence.  Thankfully, it's broken when Eridan finds that Feferi really is gone, and he relaxes visibly as she lets him in before closing the door.  The room is decorated in bright greens and pinks and violets and it's pretty horrible, if Kanaya's comments during her Skype conversations with Rose are anything to go by, but they can do what they want!  A small aquarium is set up on the top shelf of the television stand, at just about eye-level, housing a large hermit crab in a shell decorated with stars and little universes.

"He's fuckin' huge," Eridan says.

"Yep!  He's almost too big for his habitat, so we're going to have to go shopping soon!"

She tosses her bag to the floor by the foot of her bed, then falls into her comforter with a satisfied _umph_.  "Ugh, I have dance later tonight too," she grouses, "Like, right after Feferi gets back!  It sucks, I won't be able to eat dinner until after the cafeteria closes."

Eridan shifts on his feet, looking for a place to sit, and she smiles when he decides to settle into her desk chair, unwinding his scarf to take his camera off.  "Why don't you just go to the diner?  Didn't have a problem with that _last_ week."  After a moment, he unbuttons his jacket, pulling it off and draping it over the back of the chair.

"Alone?"  She gives him a _look_.  "That would be so dumb."

He shrugs and doesn't answer, and after a moment she picks up the remote and flips on the television.  It's perpetually stuck on Animal Planet, and for whatever reason, Eridan doesn't call her out on it.  She smiles and shakes her head and says.  "Well, anyway.  I'm glad you came over, even though I'm kind of boring."

"Nah," he says, pulling his scarf to drape over his shoulders rather than wrap around his neck.  "Not like I was gonna do anythin' else but sit around on my computer."  He gets up and makes his way over to Reginald's habitat, pulling the grating back off the top so that he can reach his hand in - the crab scuttles to him almost as fast as it does to Feferi, and when he settles back in the chair, he's rotating his hands under the perpetually moving creature.

"Have you given any thought to us going down to Rose's for a few days when break starts?" she asks, flickering her interest between him and her crab and the television.  He shrugs.

"I guess I gotta.  Don't really have an excuse."

"Yeah, pretty much!"  He shoots her a glare but she ignores it.  "Besides, it'll be fun.  And you owe us."

"Yeah, yeah."  Eridan's tone is distant, and she can see that most of his attention is dedicated to the crab in his hands, and so she lets it go.  She knows he doesn't get to see marine wildlife much any more, now that he's land-bound, and she sort of likes it when he's pleased by little things.  She always thought that if she ever met him, he'd be one of those snooty kids who was never impressed by anything - and, at first, that was exactly what she'd struck him as.  But then he'd absconded, and Jade had realized that his aloofness hadn't been because he wasn't impressed; it was more because he was...

She still can't figure out the right word for it.

Jade finds herself accidentally dozing a little as her thoughts roll through her head; it's been a long day and the setting sun is casting that warm, sleepy, late afternoon glow that always makes her feel like taking a nap.  She considers what Eridan would say if she did, staring haphazardly at the television, then snaps herself back to reality with the sound of a shutter clicking.

She sits up and watches Eridan as he lets Reginald clamber up a sloping stack of physics textbooks, his camera focused on the little guy and snapping pictures whenever the mood seems to suit him.  The single-minded focus she sees on his face is something that both reminds her of the old Eridan and the new one, and she finds herself laughing a little at it.  As if that's how he looks whenever he's pursuing a quadrant with someone, right?

He hears her and looks up, flushing purple when he sees her grinning at him.  "I thought you were asleep," he says, already picking the crab up and moving to place him back in his habitat.

"Sorry!  I was, a little.  It's just that time of day, you know?"

"I guess," he says, staring into the habitat for a moment.  "I'm always tired like that.  I dunno."

He turns and stares at her for a few moments, and she can feel her smile faltering under his gaze.  After a brief silence, he finally hooks his teeth over his lower lip before lifting his camera.  "Uh.  Hold still, would you?"

Immediately, she wants to fidget, realizing just how uncomfortable she is with her legs tucked under her, her weight shifted too far to one side, but she does stay still, smiling awkwardly, shyly, when he raises his camera.  She always thought it was kind of silly that he still used a traditional film camera when you could get better resolution out of a digital, and way more options, like color balance and different exposures with just a touch of a button -

He snaps a few pictures, lightning quick, and she laughs and runs a hand through her hair when he looks to be done.  He's got that same intense look on his face, from what she can see when he lifts his head up to look across his camera at her, like she's a hermit crab climbing up some books.

He snaps one more picture and she scowls at him.  "I thought you were done, or I wouldn't have moved!"

"It didn't look right," he mumbled, and almost unconsciously, he was snapping another picture of her, despite her eyebrows being furrowed and her lips pulled into an exaggerated pout.  She rolls her eyes and laughs because that is pretty much going to be the most ridiculous picture of her ever.  "You look better when you're not doing fake posing bullshit."

"Really?" she asks, genuinely surprised because... well, she's never really had her picture taken before.  Not where she's alone, at least.

"Nobody does," he adds.

"I guess that makes sense," she frowns, then tosses her hair over her shoulder.  Some of it doesn't quite make it, and instead drapes over half of her face, and she can see the flyaways already.  She pouts her lips and puts her hands under her chin.  "But I always thought I looked pretty amazing when I posed," she says, and when she sees Eridan roll his eyes with a vague smile on his face, she bursts out laughing, tossing her hair back and out of her face.  "Oh my god," she says, realizing that he's still got his hand on the shutter button, "You didn't actually take a picture of that!"

"You're gonna be a star, Harley," he says, slurring his words in some attempt at an old-timey movie director's accent, and she laughs even harder, trying to throw a pillow at him but failing to even grip it enough. 

He's chuckling a little himself, and that fills her with such a weird sort of glee that she can't help but run with it, throwing her arms up and trying to strike one of those weird, body-contorting poses she sees in the fashion magazines at the grocery store.  It doesn't really work, if the way Eridan accidentally snorts is any indication, but he dutifully takes a few more shots, shaking his head and finally putting the camera down.  "All done," he says.

"Could I be a model?" she asks, batting her eyes exaggeratedly.  He rolls his eyes, but when he looks back at her she can see a warm, fond kind of smile on his face - the kind she's _never_ seen from him before.  It almost looks like how she imagines the late afternoon would look if it were a smile - and oh, for fuck's sake, that's so corny!

He frowns, suddenly, and shakes his head.  "I gotta go."

"Seriously?" she asks, frowning sincerely this time.  He's pulling his camera strap over his head and throwing his scarf around his neck, though, so fast that she thinks he must've forgotten he had some kind of meeting or something to go to.  "Fine, then.  But I better not have to pay for those pictures of me!"

He nods, distracted, and grabs his bag and his coat.  "No, couldn't make you even if I wanted to," he says, and then he's going to the door and pulling it open.  "Uh."

He pauses, hesitating for so long that she wonders now if he mixed up his dates or something for whatever meeting he must have.  Finally, he speaks over his shoulder.  "If you go to the diner after your fuckin' stupid class or whatever, I might be there.  I go there sometimes when I gotta work late."

"Oh."

"Just sayin'.  Since bein' alone is fuckin' dumb, right?"

She feels suddenly terrible, even though she's pretty sure that's not what he meant, and she nods, quickly.  "Okay, um, I might see you there, then!"

"Okay."  And then he's slamming the door behind him and she knows she must've pissed him off somehow.  Unfortunately, with Eridan, she never knows _what_ it is she's done.  Oh well.  As long as he gives her those pictures, it doesn't matter what she did.

But when she heads to the diner after class that night and sees him through the window, working on his laptop with his headphones on, what she could've possibly done seems a big enough deal for her to decide to order some pizza, instead of going in and facing him.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave gets a terrible sweater and an even more terrible proposal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can only hope that I did justice to the [sweater that started it all](http://seasonsstuck.tumblr.com/post/12924067892/hamletspamlet-two-fabulous-winter-fashion) in this chapter. Seriously, this sweater and that bee hat are the reasons why I started writing this in the first place.
> 
> Uh, also, pre-emptive sorry for any future delays - my offline life has been pretty messed up lately, so I might be herpderpy about my update times.

            Dave doesn't bring up the idea of Sollux moving in with him after Thanksgiving.  Or, he doesn't bring it up after he'd punched Karkat and blown off steam playing Modern Warfare with Sollux until the crack of dawn.  He's not sure why he doesn't do it, because seriously, fuck Karkat, but after that little strife it doesn't feel like it's ever the right time.

            Terezi calls him one day while he's working on a project and tells him, in no uncertain terms, that he is going to make the long ass trip out to see her tomorrow, springing the road trip on him so suddenly that he almost has to think about it.  But he ignores any thought of needing to do anything else and immediately agrees, already letting the idea of going out to see Sollux spin in his mind like a well worn record.  Six hours is too much for him to drive too many times a year, but more and more, he feels like he needs to.  Like it's some vital part of his routine, right up there with brushing his teeth and using his silk-screen kit to make incredibly shitty clothes for Terezi.

            He considers the project he's been working with on and off for the last two months and, though it's not nearly close to finished, he downloads what he has onto his MP3 player and packs up the essentials for a trip to Terezi's; his Christmas present for her, for one, along with a bag of cherry Jolly Ranchers and his portable turntables - just in case inspiration strikes.  He doesn't like to be left hanging if something comes into his head and he can't put it out there for everyone to witness.

            He barely sleeps the night before and then, when he wakes up for the third time, he decides _fuck it, we're doing this_.  It's only seven in the morning and he's already packing up his truck, the one his brother won't take back no matter how many times Dave begs him too because fuck, man, it's so shitty.  The AC barely works, the radio is so jacked that potholes send it skipping, making every song sound like a dubstep remix, and the driver's seat is stuck in a reclined position so severe that Dave has to take the time to adjust exactly how he's sitting so that he doesn't end up sliding down so far that he can't see the road.  But at least it works.

            He checks the mail one last time before heading out, surprised to find a thick packaging envelope squished in there unceremoniously.  The return address is his brother's and he immediately knows that this is probably just one of a million useless, ironic gifts for the holidays.  One for Christmas, one for Kwanza, eight for Hanukah and one for Festivus - and they're always amazing in their own hideousness.

            It's a sweater two sizes too big for him, knit out of thick yarn, garishly striped red-white-blue in some kind of fucked up aztecian, alpaca-farmer, flute-blowing pattern.  The only thing worse than that is the fact that it has a heart stitched on the front, right in plain vew, and he _thinks_ that Bro might've had to put it on himself.  That's actually kind of touching, if sentimentality is your creepy uncle and the heart is the way he hugs you for too long.

            He pulls it on immediately, knowing full well that it'll be kind of fucking weird for his troll bros and gal to see, adjusting his sunglasses and contemplating going back to get his spirit hood before deciding that it's too much of a hassle to find that thing again.  Whenever he takes it off, it always ends up in some weird, fucked up place, and he wonders sometimes if Cal is there in his apartment, stealing shit like a fucking gremlin.

            The thought creeps him out too much, so he shoves it aside, climbs in his shitty truck with his shitty sweater and takes off for Terezi's, stopping only once on the way to get some Burger King.  It's a sort of long drive, but he amuses himself by finding shitty pop songs on the radio and driving over potholes to make them skip around, despite the fact that he knows it's doing shit to his suspension and alignment.  Fuck it.

            Dave calls Terezi when he's close enough to see her apartment building in the distance, one of those three-level, outdoor-access things that are really popular in the southwest for some reason.  She sounds like she's been up for hours, even though he left way before she probably expected him too, and when he parks he can see her running along the corridor to the stairs.  He flashsteps to greet her, holding her gift in hand - wrapped in newspaper, because he is nothing if not the classiest of motherfuckers - and she throws her arms around him and licks his face in embarrassing and possibly illegal ways.

            Her apartment isn't really small, but it's full of so much _shit_ that it seems like she's only got a few square feet to live by.  He doesn't blink at it, though - he's been here often enough that she's even got a semi-permanent place for him to sleep: a pile of dragon plushies that he sees occasionally hanging by nooses from the ceiling.  He's not sure what she's got planned, though, because when they go into her apartment he finds it to be surprisingly tidy, given whose apartment this is.  "Been packing?" he asks, casually shoving his hands into the pocket of his godawful sweater.

            "Cleaning, silly coolkid!  I don't see any boxes, do _you_?"  Terezi merrily trots over to her sofa and falls onto it, and Dave takes a seat next to her.  "But, since you're so _interested_ ~, I have been doing a little packing!  Karkat hasn't asked me yet," she adds with an annoyed face, her hand going up to touch the Cancer pendant around her neck, "But he _will_.  And when he does, I will be prepared."

            "The most prepared."

            "It will be me!"  When she looks at him, he can see that she's weighing options in her mind, but he can't decide what the options are so he bypasses all of them, steering the conversation by dropping his gift into her lap.  "What's this?"

            "Merry Christmas.  Once you move out to fucking nowhere, Colorado, you're not getting early presents anymore, so take it while you can."

            She does, tearing into it with gusto and screeching in delight at the worn red sweatshirt with Fred Savage's face plastered across the bottom, taking up most of the space available.  Terezi had been weirdly fond of _The Wizard_ , and he isn't sure if it was ironic or not, but he's gotta accept his moirail when he can, right?  That's how this works.

            "It's _fabulous_!" she howls, licking a long stripe along Savage's silk-screened face before pulling the sweatshirt over her head.  "Perfect for our next long drive."

            "Which would be...?"

            "Now, cool kid."  She turns to him, earnest for once, and says, "I want to go see Karkat and I know you want to go see Sollux, so we should go.  Now."

            He frowns.  "Why would I want to see Captor?  Unless you know something I don't.  Is he pining for me?  Longing for my hands to sweetly embrace his controller, being his player two all night long?"  When she doesn't laugh, he pauses.  He's too cool to shift nervously, but that's all he wants to do, along with wipe the sweat from his palms onto his jeans and wonder if he had laid on the irony too thick there.

            "Karkat told me about the fight you two had," she says, finally, and he raises an eyebrow.  Is that it?  "And I'm only going to say this once, Dave, so drop the cool kid irony act and listen to me - I'm not going to let you pull me out of my potential matespritship with Karkat so I can auspisticize for you two.  So don't get any funny ideas about getting me involved in what's going on with you two."

            Dave does drop the cool kid act then, raising both eyebrows and lowering his shades enough to look over them at Terezi, who is one of the few people he's ever let see his eyes.  (She'd guessed the color, anyway, so it wouldn't have done any good to hide them.)  "What are you talking about?  Is this about the whole hateboner thing you guys have for a quadrant?  Because I don't want to have crazy hatesex with the nubby bastard."  He shrugs and holds up his hands, "He's just kind of a dick."

            "Like you're one to talk," she says, but she's smiling now, a little forlornly for some reason but still, at least it's not her glaring at him.  "Good, I guess!  Then I don't have an-y-thing to worry about.  So, got your stuff for our drive?"

            "Already packed with the intentions of taking you all the way, baby."

            She rolls her eyes but lets it go, skittering off to do who-knows-what and leaving Dave to sit on the sofa, wiping at his palms and dropping his head back against the cushions.  Fucking Karkat, talking about shit that's none of his goddamn business to be spreading around.  He wonders what it would've been like to have just kicked the shit out of the bastard, then gives up when he can't focus on the timeline enough to consider it.  Besides, the time shit doesn't really work on Earth - not the right way, at least.  He thinks Aradia's got a good handle on it, but fuck if he ever talks to her about it.

            Terezi throws a duffel bag onto his lap and he looks at her, and tries to think of how to go back in time and change things between them, but that's pretty impossible too because he can only think to the point when he met Sollux and then everything's pretty much useless.  And Sollux is like a fixed point, or some shit.  He's not sure.

            "Let's go, already," she says, and he doesn't need her to drag him down the stairs to the truck.  She looks like she wants them to take her car for a second, but she doesn't ask; she knows he's got a thing about letting other people drive, and besides, once he lays the bag of cherry candy in her lap, she doesn't care _what_ car she's in - or what world, for that matter.

            The drive to Colorado Springs is the longest he's ever had to drive in his life, and it has nothing to do with the distance.  It's all about the time, and how it's a _colossal fucking waste_ of it.  He's been nearly pulled over too many times to want to speed too much on the long highways and side roads and whatever he can take to avoid any construction he might hear about on the radio, and there's fuck all to look at when he's driving so it's just.  There.

            It's so.  Fucking.  Slow.  Everything moves slower when you're stuck in a car, and after a while, even Terezi can't seem to shake the yawning, road-weary mood that inevitably falls over them when they do happen to go long distances together.  Despite that, she manages to keep him entertained by gossip from the various parts of the country, talking about Aradia's early break and how, secretly - just between you and me, cool kid - she's planning a surprise visit to Equius.  And about how Sollux sent his discs for some MMO questing game to Nepeta, and how she and the cat girl have been razing all sorts of human villages.

            (She complains about how the trolls look nothing _like_ Alternians, but Dave points out Gamzee and she has to concede her point.)

            Finally, _finally_ , the city shows up in view ahead of them and they start seeing signs for the turn-off to Karkat and Sollux's shitty townhouse.  He finally asks, "Did you tell them we're coming?"

            "Of course not," she drawls, and he raises an eyebrow.  He usually likes to give Sollux a heads up about him coming out, just because he knows the other doesn't really like surprises, and _god damn, is he really that bad_?

            They pull up and Dave gives off a warning honk as Terezi climbs out, earning a scathing look at the fact that he's ruined her grand entrance.  He can't help it - he doesn't want to aggravate Karkat's apparent hate-on for him and he wants to give Sollux a head's up that, hey, he has guests.  Be on your best, sexiest behavior, because there's a Strider in your presence.

            Karkat's opening the door as Dave is locking the truck, and when Dave turns to see him, the look on his face is just absolutely fucking precious.  It makes Dave think he's leaving Terezi in the right hands when he sees the way the shitstain's angry little face lights up and gets so mushy you'd think he was a rotten pear left out in the sun too long.  Karkat's eyes sweep over from Terezi to Dave, and he can see the troll trying to school his face and fail miserably, anger and irritation fighting against the sappiest parts of his little lizard brain.

            "Sup," he says.

            "What are _you_ doing here," Karkat replies.

            Terezi rolls her eyes and jabs a pointy finger at Dave, then at Karkat.  "Talk."  And she absconds like the wind, slipping into the townhouse and slamming the door behind her.  Dave has no fucking clue what they're supposed to talk about, but the look on Karkat's face, like he sort of wants to rip Dave's face off, but isn't sure what way would be best, gives him an idea.

            "Look, dude," he starts, Karkat tromping down the short steps to where Dave is standing, "I can tell from the way your eyebrows are squirming down your face that you've either got a hemorrhoid or some-"

            Karkat grabs him by the throat, shoves him into the corner of the hood of his car, and plants the meanest, most awful kiss on his mouth and _whoa, dude, slow down, **what.**_

            It's all teeth and growling and snarling and Dave hears himself snarl back, but more than that he can hear some kind of panic in his own voice, well aware that he's letting all his cool kid stock drop by a million points, brokers throwing themselves out of windows and raining down on Wall Street like hail, and _he is not going to get into a fucked up quadrant like this_.  There is no way he is getting into this with Karkat, _especially_ with what Terezi said earlier, there is no way to mine deep enough into the Earth to drag out any sort of want on his part.  And he might be a little hysterical right now because Karkat has his hand clenched around Dave's throat.

            He grabs a fistful of Karkat's hair, throws him back, and pants out, "I was trying to say that I'm _not interested_ in being your hatemate."

            Karkat stares at him like he's a fucking moron and that ticks him off even more, but he just continues, "It's flattering and all, but I don't do the whole hatesex, fuck-your-friend's-boyfriend thing.  No offense.  I'm sure you'll make a great kissmass to someone someday.  We'll take pictures, you two locked in eternal combat on the stairs, the prettiest corsage shoved down your throat-"

            Karkat is practically bristling.  " _Kismesis._ "

            "Bless you."

            "Jegus _fucking Christ,_ Strider, are you fucking with me right now?  Seriously?  You're going to play the _biggest fucking asshole_ right this fucking second?  It seems like it's a shitty gogdamn time to start in on that, considering-"

            "Considering you just put the hater moves on me and I turned you down?"  Dave can't help himself, but after a second he frowns and shrugs.  "Sorry.  Yeah, no.  I get it, stop being a dick, it's like a turn on for you.  I'll try to keep it to a minimum, so long as you keep the haterade away from me during game time."

            Karkat fidgets and Dave realizes this is the first time he's ever really shot someone down so directly.  Then again, usually he didn't have to be so firm, because he wasn't being hatesnogged like a punk.  He can feel a cut on his lip and has to force himself not to suck on it to keep the stinging down.  "Fine," he grumbles, finally.  Then he sighs and says, "Fucking of course, yeah, all right.  You shouldn't be here."

            "Sorry, bro, I'm not leaving."

            "No, I mean..."  Karkat pinches the bridge of his nose, then shakes his head and waves a hand.  "Fuck.  Whatever, come in.  Sollux is in his room.  I need you to... not be around me for a while."

            "Yeah, sure."  He pauses.  "Sorry, anyway."  He climbs the steps, passing Karkat as he does, and says, "For what it's worth, that was a pretty okay attempt at tearing my throat out through my mouth.  I've had better, but..."

            Karkat makes a strangled noise and Dave flashsteps to the door before Karkat can grab him, throws the door open and quickly bypasses Terezi, who's giving him the _weirdest_ fucking look.  He doesn't stop for anything, just heads to Sollux's room, pausing once he gets there to lean against the door frame and rest his forehead against the door.  He can hear Terezi talking downstairs, but he doesn't focus on what she's saying, and before he can hear Karkat respond, raps his knuckles on the door.

            "Go away," Sollux says.

            "Sorry, Captor, that's not happening."

           There's a noise from the room and then silence, one that stretches so long that Dave considers knocking again.  Then, "Shit - no, I don't want _you_ here!"

            God damn.  Is every troll in this fucking state out to ragehump or chase him away?

            But he's not taking no for an answer, and so he tries the knob and finds it unlocked, swinging the door open in a slow, creaking arc.  Sollux throws a pillow at him from somewhere in the dark, but he catches it and tosses it aside as he closes the door behind him.  "No doesn't mean _yeth,_ shithead!"

            Dave lets his eyes focus through his shades but even then, it's hard to make out Sollux when the lights are out and the curtains are drawn.  Doesn't help that it's already pretty fucking late in the day, and the sun is on the other side of the house.  Still, he doesn't hesitate to make his way over to where he knows the bed is, and sure enough Sollux's frame shows up through the shadows and the shades.  "Man, first Karkat assaults me, now you're trying to kick me out of your room preemptively?  Way to make a guy feel unloved, bro.  And I know you've got crazy technicolor glowsticks coming out of your eyes half the time, but seriously, are you some kind of gothy preteen?"

            He can see Sollux better now, thanks to the blue-red glow coming from his eyes, but he also knows that's one of those Bad Things that he's heard he has to deal with, but has never really _had to_ deal with.  "Get _out_ , Dave."  It's partly a warning and a plea, but Dave doesn't back down.  He flops onto the bed next to Sollux, reaches into the pocket of his shitty sweater and pulls out his MP3 player.  " _Dave_ -"

            "Shut the hell up for a second, can't you see I'm working?"  And he is, pulling out portable turntables and earbuds and finding an open jack in the room within a few quick moves.  Static is clinging in his hair, clumping it up in ugly ways, but he just reaches over and shoves an earbud into Sollux's closest ear, the snap-crackle shock barely registering on anything but his split lip, and he jams the other into his own ear and hits play on his MP3 player.  His hands ghost over the turntables even though they're powered down, because he needs to keep a hold on the track they're listening to so he knows what comes next.

            Sollux shudders and smacks Dave across the face with a bolt of blue energy, but it's barely worth more than a vague headtilt and some askew-glasses action, and after a moment or so Sollux starts to wind down, slumping uncomfortably against the wall.

            "Oh," he says.

            "Yeah."  He spins idly, recalling dips and record swaps that he can't possibly perform right here.  "You're getting a sneak peek at an exclusive Strider record, here.  You should be kneeling at my feet for how generous I'm being.  Seventy-five solid minutes, when it's finished.  Five minutes a pop.  You're not on it, yet," he adds, and Sollux slumps his head against Dave's shoulder, eyes flashing blueredbluered-blue-red-blue--red--blue.  "Working my way up the rainbow.  I had to make sure Tavros got the best treatment possible, what with me being his ill rhyme mentor.  But don't worry.  I got something special planned for you."

            Sollux makes a weird trilling noise and bobs and rolls his head to the beat.

            "I could've killed you," he says after a minute.  "If I hadn't been fucking depressed ath well ath manic."

            "Probably," Dave drawls, letting his accent out as he finally sucks on his lip a little, "But then you'd have to plan my funeral, being my murderer - normal human custom, obviously - and let's face it.  You're too lame to plan the epic Viking burial I'd require as a real send-off."

            Sollux laughs, sounding still a little fucking unhinged, but the psionics haven't come out to play again, so Dave counts it as a big fucking win.  Then Sollux ruins everything by saying, "You never wanted me to move in with you, did you."

            Dave can't shake his head without risking smacking his jaw into Sollux's horns, so he just shrugs a little.  "It's gotten complicated.  Wait until I get this finished, then we'll talk.  Sound good?"

            "Thounds fucking awethome.  I could lithen to thith all day."  Sollux blinks over at Dave, loopy-looking.  "That's the most hideouth fucking thweater, B.T.W."

            "Wore it just for you."

            Sollux trills again and Dave remembers the heart stitched on his chest, but he doesn't say anything about it.  He just sucks on his lip, pretending that it's just to ease the sting.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aradia makes a surprise visit to Equius and Nepeta's ranch, despite the snowy weather and the fact that surprises and Equius never work out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not exceedingly happy with this particular chapter, but it's good buildup for what I have planned later. I promise I won't let Aradia down again by messing up her voice as bad as I probably did here.

            The snow is starting to really come down by the time Aradia gets her car down the long drive to Equius's ranch house.  The heater is turned up to a nice 80 degrees, even though she knows it's only ruining her for the freezing temperatures outside, and she hasn't had time to dig through her bag to pull out a thicker jacket since she reached the airport, since it hadn't been too bad then.  She's not really good with cold weather - probably why she'd drifted off to California instead of somewhere closer to all her friends - but she can deal with it long enough to get inside.

            It's Nepeta who comes bounding out the door, stomping through the snow that's piled up along the driveway and making a lot of noise that doesn't suit her predatory side.  Aradia brushes her hair back, turns off the rental car and quickly hops out, already feeling the bite as the snow starts to catch in her hair and on her long, spiraling horns.  "Aradia!" Nepeta exclaims, and Aradia beats her to the punch by being the first one to open her arms for a hug.  She's already starting to shiver, but it's nice, honestly.  Snow is refreshing.  She's worried about how bad it's going to get, but still, she's sure that it's going to be fine.  Everything is going to be fine, so long as Equius doesn't have a fit over the fact that Aradia's shown up out of nowhere.

            (Not out of _nowhere_ , since Nepeta's been in on it since Thanksgiving, but she knows the other troll can keep a secret.  Even if she makes funny little squeaks and trills when those secrets play with her shipping wall.)

            "Oh my gosh, you must be fur-reezing!  Didn't you realize it's was going to snow?!"

            Aradia laughs and her teeth, miraculously, don't clack together.  "I did!  But my car was so nice and warm..."

            Nepeta purr-laughs and before Aradia can do anything else, she's rushing to get the bags out of the back seat - two medium-sized duffle bags, one with corners still covered in dust and dirt.

            She hears the sound of Equius's boots tromping from somewhere near the barn, and she turns to look over the hood of her car.  He's too far away to shout to, and his hands are full with the blankets he's carrying, but when he sees her he stops dead in his tracks.  She doesn't need to see past his glasses to know he's staring.  She raises a hand and waves, grinning with slightly chattering teeth, and says out of the corner of her mouth, "Maybe we should have told him I was coming..."

            "No way!  He can't run away furever," Nepeta replies, "Now hurry up!  He's going to freeze to death standing there waiting for you to disappear so he can freak out in the barn."

            Aradia laughs and waves to Equius again before doing her best to jog after Nepeta as she bounds back to the house.  It's warm inside, and even though Aradia's seen it once or twice, she was always here with someone else - it was never just her, Nepeta and Equius.  She's excited and pleased and horribly, _horribly_ nervous as she rubs her arms and takes one of her bags from Nepeta as she follows her to the guest room.  She's not sure if this was such a good idea, but she's not one to ever turn her back on a chance to do something spontaneous.  Even if it means flying to a different state, driving through a snowstorm and staying with the person who pitied her up until the point where he died.

            It sounds tragic but it doesn't matter because they're both alive now, and she's not a god and he's not dead.  And he's changed, more than he's willing to ever openly admit.  She knows because he hasn't brought up the hemospectrum at all since they got back to Earth; he does make vague references to it, in ways that make her emotions do things she never thought they'd do for him, but he doesn't say anything in front of her about it directly. 

            She never really hated him - or felt anything more than casual friendship - until he'd put her in a robot body with a heart that wasn't hers, that made her want things that she didn't want, and then it hadn't been hard to loathe him.  But when she'd ascended, things had become so busy that her feelings for just about anyone became pointless.  And when they'd shown up on Earth, finally stepping through that door, and she'd seen him staring at his hands, touching his neck and actually embracing Nepeta as lightly as he could...

            She shakes her head and smiles at Nepeta as she talks about how the horses are doing, about how dinner isn't ready yet but it's really lazy stuff anyways, and when the door opens and Equius comes in, wiping at sweat with a rag that she's seen tucked into his back pocket before, she smiles wider.

            "Aradia," he says, shifting his weight nervously.  She doesn't give him a chance to say anything else, coming forward to wrap her arms around his shoulders.  He hesitates, then puts a hand on her back, trying not to hurt her.  "You should have said you were coming out."

            "Surprise!" Nepeta crows.

            "Exactly," Aradia agrees with a laugh.  "You would've made a big fuss out of it, and I don't need that."

            "We could have come to get you at the airport," he offers.

            "You had work to do!  I wasn't going to pull you away from that.  Besides, I know what I'm doing.  Don't worry so much."  The hug's gone on too long, she knows, so she pulls away and grins at him, reaching up to push the brim of his cowboy hat back as far as it'll go with his horns in the way.  "I'm here, and that snowstorm outside means I'm not going anywhere."

            Nepeta's making all sorts of purring noises, and Aradia laughs and moves away from Equius as blue spreads across his cheeks.  "You had a hand in this, Nepeta?" he asks his moirail, and Aradia laughs again at the mixed look of pleasure and utter mortification on his face.

            "Yep!  We planned it all in secret!"

            "Very sneaky of us," Aradia says, chiding herself and Nepeta with one mischievous look.

            "Terribly, pawfully sneaky!"

            "We should make secret plans more often."

            Equius's face is completely flushed, and he grabs his rag again to wipe at his forehead before muttering, "Excuse me - I have to clean up before dinner," and making a quick getaway.  Nepeta giggles and moves into the kitchenette, Aradia following her and shaking her head gently to remove the last bits of snow still stuck in her curls.

            "We should probably lay off him now," Aradia says, "I don't want to make him _too_ uncomfortable."

            "It's okay," Nepeta says, shrugging and gathering up some various spices to throw into the pot of chili she has on the stove.  "It's a good uncomfortable, trust me!  Teasing him is the only way to make him immune to this sort of thing, anyway, and we have to do that."

            "Oh, we do, do we?"  The table isn't set, so Aradia hunts down some silverware and bowls, putting them on the table without thinking about it.  It's not like she sets tables often, but she can tell from the clean placemats at each seat that Equius and Nepeta do it, and she's going to try to keep from ruining their routine.

            "It'll be good for him."

            Nepeta sounds earnest, even though she's smiling in a vaguely unsettling way, so Aradia doesn't question it.  Equius returns to the kitchen just as Nepeta is dishing out their dinner, and though he doesn't immediately start sweating when he sees Aradia, she can see a blue flush along the tips of his ears.  He's dressed down from his full snow gear, wearing sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt that Aradia is pretty sure is part of a set of long underwear, his hair pulled back in a ponytail to keep it from dripping all over the place.  She's not used to him looking so... casual.  It's usually button up shirts and pressed jeans, gloves and boots and sunglasses -

            Oh.  He's not wearing his glasses.  She's not sure she's _ever_ seen him without something covering his eyes, and it's surprising to see that he has...  She doesn't even know - pretty?  Not quite, he squints so much that she can see wrinkles forming, just barely, and those deep bags under his eyes are only made darker by the blue in his irises, but.  They're nice.

            Nepeta bumps her with her hip and Aradia realizes that she's been staring, her face heating up as she quickly moves to help Nepeta get some cups.  "I apologize," she hears Equius say behind her, his voice tight with nerves, "I would have changed into something more suitable for company, but my clothes..."

            "Are all dirty, because I'm not the only one who should wash things!" Nepeta cuts in, looking slyly at Aradia and making her blush worse.

            "No, it's okay!  I just don't think I've ever seen you look so relaxed."  It's practically a joke, because when she turns around Equius is _anything_ but relaxed, but she smiles through it and adds, "And I don't think I've ever seen you without your glasses on."

            "Oh."  His voice is remarkably small and his tone is so awkward that it almost makes her stop smiling, but she presses onwards and gestures for him to take a seat.

            Dinner is more awkward than comfortable, but only marginally; Nepeta is great when it comes to diffusing situations where Equius is involved, and they talk about Aradia's classes, the Alternian Culture Club she joined, and how things are going with the horses and the hands they've started hiring on a part time basis.  It's all polite dinner conversation, which is good, because even though the cups are plastic, there's still a good chance that anything too embarrassing for Equius to hear would result in milk spilling everywhere.

            Aradia adds more hot sauce to her chili and finally, Equius manages to enter the conversation.  "I wasn't aware you liked spicy food."

            She smiles and can't resist a wink.  She should tone it down, but she's too impulsive, and instead of being pleasantly bland she can't help but say, "I like everything red hot, I guess."

            Equius blinks and puts his cup down with more force than intended, rattling the table and making Nepeta grab her own cup to keep it from toppling over.  "I, uh.  That's -"

            "I guess it's because there's a lot of Indian restaurants near campus!"  Aradia doesn't need Nepeta nudging her foot to know she should pull back quick, and honestly it only serves to mortify her a little because _oh my goodness_ , she didn't expect to say something so forward.  It wasn't even completely intentional - but the fact that there's still some part of her who meant it to be a flushed flirtation makes her anxious.  Her human classmates use colors like black and red in such normal ways that she's just... gotten so used to it.  Oops.  So much for the ACC; she's practically going native here.

            Equius makes a strangled noise and nods.  "I see."  The tension thickens until, surprisingly, he breaks it by saying, "I've never had Indian food."

            Nepeta looks surprised, and Aradia can't blame her, because Equius usually clams up once things get to a certain degree of painfully awkward.  She smiles and says, "Well, maybe I can find a way to get some supplies and make some curry or something one night!"

            "We can take the truck," Nepeta says, "The snowstorm should die down soon enough!"

            "How many nights are you staying?" Equius asks, and Aradia smiles innocently.

            "Nepeta convinced me to stay for a week, so..."

            He nods, and surprisingly doesn't crack his cup when he lifts it to take a drink.  Aradia smiles and Nepeta taps her toe against her foot, grinning practically from horn to horn.

            When they finish eating, Equius makes an effort to help clean up, though Nepeta quickly shoos him away from the plates to keep him from breaking any.  He looks a little humiliated, and Aradia can't help but feel bad.  It's unfortunate that he can't really do these kinds of things - but she's not sure if that's because he just _can't_ , or just because she's there to make him feel awkward enough to break things.

            Aradia spends the next few hours watching television with Nepeta, listening to Equius working up in the attic.  He hasn't given up on robotics, she knows that, but she's not sure what he builds now that he has more effective ways to spend his time than building robots to break.  She doesn't ask about it, though; it's sort of a touchy subject between them and she doesn't want to make things more awkward than she did at dinner.

            Equius doesn't come down, even when she and Nepeta decide it's time to go to bed.  Aradia considers going up to see him, but the ceiling shudders slightly and she decides against it.  Surprisingly, though, the sounds of him working above her head don't keep her up for too long at all.  After a few minutes, actually, the clanking metal becomes a comfortable melody to tune out the rest of the world with.

            The next thing she knows, it's the morning, and she can smell bacon frying from all the way in her room.  It takes her a few minutes to get dressed, dressing warmer than last night and making every effort to look at least a little presentable, despite having left her brush in the car.

            Nepeta is making eggs, bacon, sausage and toast, the radio blaring classic Alternian beats that Aradia thinks Tavros would like to hear and Equius sitting at the table, watching a weather advisory report on the television.  It sounds like it's going to get pretty bad tonight, but neither Equius nor Nepeta look too concerned, so she doesn't think about it.  "Oh, wow," Aradia says as Nepeta throws more food onto plates, "What a spread!"

            Equius jerks, startled out of his focus on the television by her voice, and he looks at her through his sunglasses.  It's too bad that he's put them on, but he's probably going out into the snow to check on the animals so it makes some modicum of sense.  She likes his eyes, though.

            "Good morning, Aradia," he says, the picture of a polite host, and Aradia smiles at him.

            "Good morning!  It looks like the storm's going to get really bad, huh?"

            "We'll be fine," Nepeta says, sounding confident as she puts a plate stacked high with food in front of Equius.  "We're good at dealing with stupid snowstorms.  Besides, the snowbanks are so fun to play in!"

            "It's dangerous," Equius says, but from his tone, it doesn't sound like he really intends to stop his moirail from playing in the snow.  Aradia smiles and sits down across from Equius, taking her plate from Nepeta as it's handed to her.  She contemplates how she's going to handle a week of sitting across from Equius, dealing with semi-awkward conversation and him probably hiding for most of the day, staring at her eggs idly.  A motion from across the table makes her look up, and she blinks in surprise as Equius holds out the bottle of hot sauce from last night, fingers barely holding on to it and sweat forming on his brow.  "You said you liked... spicy food, so I assumed..."

            She smiles wide and takes the bottle.  "You're right, I do.  Thank you, Equius!"

            He smiles back, broken toothed and hesitant, and Aradia thinks she could do to see that a little more often.  And since she has the time, she challenges herself then and there to make him smile as much as possible over the next few days.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vriska gossips with John, watches National Treasure, and asks a question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, folks; real life is a terrible thing right now. I wasn't sure where this chapter was going, either, but it all fell into place and I hope you guys like it. :) BTW: Karkat's icon used in this chapter is cropped from [this pic](http://hamletspamlet.tumblr.com/post/13339268243/uhh-fanart-of-an-au-that-my-fanart-inspired) done by the fantastical Hamlet. :)

            John wakes up to the sound of music blasting out of the bathroom, the door open and steam billowing out.  He can tell that it's snowed since last night, judging by the cool air and the snow caked up on the window, but he doesn't care one bit.  He likes snow, after all!  But he knows that Vriska isn't really big on being cold too much, and so he slowly climbs out of bed and, wiping at his eyes, stumbles over to the thermostat and turns it up.  His glasses drop off of one of his ears and he grumbles incoherently as he adjusts them, moving to the bathroom to brush his teeth and all that good stuff.  It's a little too cold to be walking around in boxers, but he doesn't mind; the bathroom is steaming hot, and the music is slowly waking him up.

            He can see Vriska's silhouette through the shower curtains and he has to pause for a minute to take in the shape of her shadow, rocking to the beat with hips swaying and hands pulling at her hair as she washes it.  He's not sure she understands what he means when he says he loves her, even now, but he knows that the pity she feels for him is just as good.  In the end, he figures that love and pity are practically the same thing.  You want to protect the person you love, just like you want to keep the person you pity from hurting.  And you want to kiss them at ridiculous times, no matter what you call it - which is why Vriska is leaning around the shower curtain, her bare hip visible as she reaches out a soapy arm and pulls John forward to kiss him hard, despite the fact that he's just picked up his toothbrush and he's got the grossest morning breath possible.

            "Gooooooood morning, Egbert," she says, shoving him away and returning to her shower.  He feels a slapstick sort of grin on his face and jams his toothbrush into his mouth as he thinks about how easy it's become for him to tell when she's actually drawing out her vowels eight times their length.  "It's freezing out there, I hope you turned on the thermostat, and I was thinking about going out tonight so unless I change my mind that's what we're doing - and by the way, I still want to watch National Treasure, don't forget!"

            "I haven't!" John replies, feeling himself waking up with every word out of her mouth.  Today is going to be a busy day, even if they end up just sitting around on the couch!  He loves it.  "Don't worry, we will watch all of the Nicholas Cage movies."

            "Yeah!"

            John rinses out his mouth, splashes some water on his face, then goes back to bed, pulling his laptop into his lap and starting it up.  Vriska's is already open on her nightstand, and he takes a moment to glance at the screen - of course it's on Facebook - before checking out his own.  He only has a dozen new emails, and most of them are about school-related things, including the due-date reminder for his final project.  Ugh.  Don't want to think about that!  It's due in three days, but he's not going to bother thinking about it until the day before.  It's practically finished, anyway.

            He checks out a few webcomics, then basically wastes time on Imgur until Vriska comes out of the bathroom, wrapped in an oversized towel.

            "Oh, _gooooooood_ , John, have you even checked Facebook yet?"

            He laughs.  "No way, I always wait for your digests first!  That way I don't miss any of the drama."

            She rolls her eyes and falls into bed, prodding him with her horns until she gets comfortable with her chin resting on his elbow.  "Karkat is _flipping_ out about something, and so is Eridan, but who cares, also, Aradia's snowed in with Equius and Nepeta up north, and the last thing she said was that all the lights were flickering, so I guess she's out of play for now."

            "Oh yeah?"  The thing that worries him is the idea of Karkat flipping out, and so he tabs over to Facebook to check it out himself.

 

            Vriska groans as John jumps into the conversation, but what was she seriously expecting?  He strokes her wet hair and she shrugs against him.  "He's being a complete baby!  I don't even know what his problem is!"

            "I know, but it's okay.  I'll find out what's going on, and..."  He frowns, raising an eyebrow.

            "What's Dave getting involved for?" Vriska asks, "He's _never_ on.  Oh my god!"  She flies to her computer, but scowls.  "He signed off, that _jerk_ , ugh.  I need to know what's going on!"

            "Vriska, maybe this time we can leave the rumor milling to me?  Like, privately?"  Despite how much she fiends after gossip, though, John knows that in the end, her intentions aren't entirely mean-spirited.  She mostly just wants to stay connected to everyone - but like everything, sometimes she gets a little carried away.  He pulls her back to his side and pets her hair some more, and she grumbles but nods.

            "Fine, whatever.  I'll just bother Eridan.  He's flipping out, too, and he's always desperate to tell me everything."  She sighs melodramatically and flings an arm around John's shoulders, and he grins.  "Joooooooohn, why is everyone so _bad_ at this relationship junk?  It's not even _hard_.  Look, you're even doing it!"

            "Yeah, and you're managing, too!" he teases back, and with anyone else, Vriska would only be incensed - with John, though, she just sticks out her tongue and then kisses him.  "I'll make it up to you.  French toast sticks sound good?"

            She grins wide with all her fangs and John laughs, pressing a hand to one of her horns briefly before putting his laptop aside and climbing out of bed.  He knows that as soon as he's gone, she's going to be hassling Sollux and probably Dave about this whole Karkat thing, but to be honest he doesn't think she'll do anything with any information she might get.  It's just her way of doing things.  She's a meddler, just like Kanaya, even though she hates it when he says that -

            " _I am not like Kanaya!_ "

            - or thinks it, for that matter.

            He barely gets down the stairs before he hears his phone buzz; he climbs back up and grabs it off the side table in the hallway, then heads back down to the kitchen, checking his messages.

(281) _get your spiderbitch off of me i cant do this right now_

(719) _haha oh man sorry dave i guess you got her all curious! it will be really hard for me to get her off of your back now. whats going on anyway why are you hassling karkat?_

(281) _honestly i dont even know any more he cant even take it its pathetic_

            John rolls his eyes and tosses his phone onto the kitchen cabinet, going to dig out the box of pre-made French toast sticks.  He throws them all onto a cookie sheet and turns the oven on, just in time to get another text, this time from Karkat.

(719) _CALL OFF YOUR HELLBITCH, EGBERT._

(719) _karkat what's going on? do you need to talk about it?_

(719) _I NEED YOU TO CALL OFF CRAZY SPIDERBITCH RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, THAT'S WHAT I NEED._

            John rolls his eyes but obliges his two best friends.  "Vriska!  Dave and Karkat are yelling at me!  Stop hassling them!"

            " _Why_?  They deserve it for hiding from me!" Vriska shouts from the bedroom.

(719) _sorry dude!  i tried!_

            He knows he's going to get called out for being with Vriska right now, for not being able to get her to stop bothering them, but he can't bring himself to care.  It's five minutes later, when the sticks are in the oven and he's turning on the television, that he gets two more texts.

(281) _whatever she stopped now_

(719) _SHE STOPPED, THANK FUCKING JEGUS, I CAN'T DEAL WITH MORE THAN ONE ASSHOLE TODAY._

            John grins wide, ear-to-ear, and looks up at the stairs.  He can hear Vriska digging through her drawers, still blasting her music, and he laughs to himself.

(719) _by the way... i'm not supposed to say anything i don't think, but vriska moved in like a month ago. sorry i didn't tell you, i'm a terrible best friend_.

(281) _really_

(281) _well congrats man i guess i mean that's a hella big commitment to get out of that crazy bitch so yeah props to you_

(719) _maybe i can inspire you?  :B_

(281) _the day you inspire me egbert is the day i choke on psionic dick_

            Vriska comes downstairs, dressed in a baggy silver sweater and a pair of black leggings, and John grins at her.  She stares at him for a minute, then groans and pushes past him to the kitchen.  "You just couldn't keep your big, dumb mouth shut, could you?"

            "Hey!  You said you wouldn't read my mind on purpose!"

            Vriska swaggers into the kitchen and he follows, rolling his eyes.  "I didn't _mean_ to," she drawls, "When you get all dumb faced and goofy, I just do it.  How are the sticks coming?  I'm _staaaaaaaarving_."

            "My face never gets dumb or goofy."  John presses his hip against Vriska's, nudging her out of the way of the oven as he checks the french toast.  "We'll be good to go in a few minutes!  Thanks for letting go of the thing with Dave and Karkat, by the way.  They were gonna eat all my minutes up."

            "Whatever," Vriska sighs.  "They needed to run to you for protection, so they're definitely not worth my time.  Besides, I don't really care what they're doing.  It probably has something to do with the eyes Karkat was making at Dave during Thanksgiving."

            "Wait, what?"  John laughs, raising an eyebrow.  "Karkat's totally head over heels for Terezi, not Dave."

            "Uh, yeah."  Vriska rolls her eyes and leans forward to kiss John, the motion almost patronizing.  "There are _four_ quadrants, remember?"

            John does remember, and he can't help but wonder what quadrant Dave and Karkat would even fill.  They both already had a moirail, right?  And Karkat was all over Terezi, with the whole matesprit thing.  Dave would make a really bad auspistice -

            "Oh, no!  Do you mean they hate each other?"

            Vriska laughs like he's just gotten one of her personal little jokes, and that's all he needs to know.  That would be awful!  His best friends hating each other so bad that they were in a hate relationship?

            He must look distressed, because Vriska frowns, then puts a hand to his arm.  "Well, don't get too freaked out, Egbert!  Strider even said he wasn't interested.  It's all just a wind-down with Vantas being a little baby."

            "I guess you're right," he says, just as the oven dings.  He grins wide, forgetting all about the quadrants and his friends and whatever is going on there.  "Anyway, let's eat!  Maybe we should try calling Equius, too, to make sure they're okay?"

            "Ugh.  I _guess_ , if you _want_."  She skulks until he digs out the maple syrup - plus raspberry syrup, because Vriska is totally gross, heh - and then she piles half of the sticks onto a paper plate, pours plenty of both syrups over them, and retreats to the living room.  John follows once he has his own food, settling down next to her on the couch and lifting his plate as she drops her legs over his thighs.  "Okay, you're forgiven for being a total doofus."

            "Good!  I was totally worried there for a second."  He sniggers into his syrup covered mess, even as she jabs him with her foot sharply.  He grabs the remote and sets up National Treasure for them to watch while they eat, and he can hear her making those cute little trilling noises from the moment Nicholas Cage shows up on screen.  It's really adorable.

            They watch for a while, plates discarded on the floor for the timebeing, and John shifts to lay down, half-behind Vriska on the couch, resting his head on her chest.  "You're doing that purring thing again," he teases.

            "Shut up!"

            "Sometimes, I think you love Nic Cage more than me.  I never hear you purr like this except around him!"  Vriska shifts as John adds, "He's such a hussy.  A ladystealing hussy."

            "You love him," she replies, falling silent for a while before adding, "Besides.  I do make weird noises around you.  You're just usually too _busy_ to notice."

            John flushes red and she cackles, throwing her head back briefly.  "Oh, John, seriously.  You are so _eaaaaaaaasy_!"

            "Yeah, well...  You love it!"

            Vriska's face gets a funny sort of look on it, but the smile is still there, a little smirk on the edge of her lips.  "You know it," she says, and John feels everything inside him swell a little.  "Not as much as I pity you, though."

            "Same thing, in my book!"

            She laughs and pulls him up by his shoulder, and he only realizes that he's still wearing just his boxers when she kisses him, pitifully sweet, and her sweater scratches against his bare chest and stomach.

            "Hey," she murmurs against his mouth.  "Your dad coming out any time soon?"

            "Uhm."  John's pretty sure this is a really bad time for her to be talking about his dad, but, "In like, two weeks?  For Christmas."  He frowns, even as she nuzzles his nose and her hand drifts to the small of his back.  "Why?"

            "Because," she says, eyes narrowing as her smile widens against his own bemused frown.  "I was doing research, and _apparently_ I'm supposed to ask him for permission before I ask you to marry me."

            John feels his stomach drop in the most exhilarating way.  He pushes himself up on his hands, hovering over Vriska, and stares at her until she starts to look a little nervous.  "What?" he asks, and his voice is as weak-kneed as he feels.

            "Unless that's not your kind of thing."  He can see Vriska backpedaling already; she's terrible with rejection and the idea of it is enough to pull her back into her shell.  Not that she needs to even think about it.

            "Well," he says, his frown turning thoughtful.  "I mean, if I'm already your matesprit, I guess you owe me the human equivalent, right?"

            "They're not _exactly_ equivalents-"

            "Close enough, though."

            "I _guess_ , but-"

            "I'm saying you should totally ask him, God!"  He can feel his face burning when she grins at him, a real, sincere smile that he's only seen a handful of times in the years they've been secretly dating (with less emphasis on the secretly part, apparently!), and he loves it.  Loves it, loves it, loves it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tavros wakes up in the middle of the night and Gamzee is a little sober.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. :) There's more of that funky text-messaging stuff going on here (glorified pesterlogs lol), but hopefully you like it. I may have messed up a little on Vriska's quirks, but hopefully it's not so bad it draws you out of the story.  
> Also, on [Tumblr](http://seasonsstuck.tumblr.com/), there are a bunch of Character Introductions up, in case you want to learn a little about their interests/backstories in this universe that aren't gone over in detail in the fic.

            Tavros wakes up in the dark.  He can hear a clock ticking in the hallway, and the quiet sound of crickets coming from the yard beyond the window in their room, and everything is so quiet and so calm that he's not sure why he woke up in the first place.  Except, maybe, to enjoy the peace.

            He turns his head to look at Gamzee - and finds him sitting on the edge of the bed, hunched over, facing the walls covered in multicolored paint spatters.  He's wearing a ratty housecoat they found at a thrift store almost two years ago, and it makes him look bigger than he is.  Tavros sits up on an elbow, rubbing at his eyes with his free hand.  "Gamzee...?  What are you doing?"

            "Nothin'," Gamzee replies, and Tavros feels the hair at the nape of his neck twitch, like they do whenever he feels danger approaching.  It's usually just not something he gets from Gamzee.

            "...Gamzee, what's, uh."  He clears his throat, wincing at its raspiness, and tries again.  "What's going on?"  He reaches out and doesn't hesitate when his hand comes within range of Gamzee's shoulders, laying it heavily on his matesprit.

            "I _said._   Motherfucking.  _Nothing_."

            He knows that if he calls 911 now, the police will probably get here in time to save him.  And they won't understand what's going on, why Gamzee is going crazy, attacking him and attacking them and they'll _kill him_ because in this universe, highbloods don't _go crazy_ -

            "It's just.  The colors," Gamzee sighs, dropping his head and his shoulders, and Tavros silently lets go of a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.  "They're all fuckin' wrong, Tavbro.  Y'know?"

            "Well," he tries, "It _is_ night-time.  Everything looks... wrong, you know.  During the nights here.  Not like home."

            "I know."

            Tavros carefully slides out from under the covers and shifts until his stomach is pressing against the small of Gamzee's back, his knees bending so that he becomes a sort of half-circle around the other.  His hand doesn't move from his shoulder.  "Is it the dark that's making them, uh, look wrong?  Or...?"

            "I dunno."  Gamzee sighs, heavily, and Tavros can see his hand twitch towards the sidetable.  He lets go long enough to reach over, pulling the drawer open and finding a pipe, a lighter and a bag of weed inside.  "Tav-"

            "It's okay," Tavros replies, shaking his head.  "Really, Gamzee, I don't _mind_."  And it's the truth.  He wishes Gamzee wouldn't smoke so much, and it hurts sometimes to see him reach for his bag of brownies or a joint he's stuffed in his hair or his cap, but it hurts more to know what would happen if he stopped.  So he just hands over the paraphernalia and sits up, bending a leg to bring it around to Gamzee's other side, sitting with the other between his legs and he watches him pack the pipe.  He can feel the resignation in Gamzee's body and he really doesn't like the fact that Gamzee is so _sad_.  He hates it.  He wants to take Gamzee and shake him sometimes, tell him that he's fine and he just needs to relax and not let the colors get to him.

            He even regrets letting the other paint the walls sometimes, but not enough to put a stop to it.  He can see now, as Gamzee flicks the lighter and ignites the fluid, that the troll's hands are covered in a purple that looks creepily close to his blood color.  And there's more of it on the wall - a lot of it, enough to know that it's not actually blood.  Gamzee would be dead, if it was.  Still, he presses his finger to Gamzee's neck and checks his pulse as he inhales the acrid smoke, feels him hold his breath and feels him release.  No smoke comes out with his sigh, and Tavros smiles.

            "Tav," he murmurs, "I'm really fuckin' sorry.  I got you all up and worried.  That ain't right of me."

            "No, it's okay.  I don't mind, Gamzee - c'mon, you know that.  You know all I want is to make sure you're okay."

            "I'm never okay."

            Tavros stays silent at that, frowning.  He doesn't like the fatalistic side of Gamzee, but who would?  He hates it even more, knowing that there's not much to do about it.  It's just... a quiet, burning loathing that's always in the back of his matesprit's head, and it's going to be there forever.  Sometimes, without meaning to, he can feel it; his powers inherently picking up the animalistic, angry side of Gamzee without Tavros ever, _ever_ wanting it to.  He never tells Gamzee that, though.  Secretly, so secretly that he's not even aware of it, he's afraid of what he might do.

            Gamzee passes him the pipe and lights it for him, and he takes a few long drags from it before handing it back and waving it away for good.  It makes Gamzee feel better, knowing that Tavros is on his side with this, and honestly, Tavros doesn't mind taking a few hits once in a while.  Especially when Gamzee feels so low that he needs to wake up and smoke.

            The crickets are slowly dying down; it must be nearly sunrise, and it's only with that realization that Tavros realizes that there's an hour missing out of his night.  He's sleepy and his nerves are dulled by the weed, which he sees now is being put away by Gamzee, who looks dopey eyed and content too.  There's a lingering harsh light there, though, and Tavros touches his horn, pulling at it to get Gamzee to lean back so he can kiss him.  They stay like that for a while; Gamzee leaning backwards, Tavros pressing kisses to his mouth and cheeks from above, and then Gamzee suddenly starts.

            "I got it," he mumbles into Tavros's mouth.  "I got _it_."

            "What's it?" he slurs back.

            "Can you crash somewhere else for a bit?  I gots some mad painting to be done, and I don't want no motherfucker to see it before I'm finished."

            Tavros exhales against Gamzee's cheek, then places a kiss to his jaw and pulls back, nodding.  "Okay...  Just.  You know, open the window?  Uh, so you don't, suffocate or anything."

            "You got it, babe."

            Tavros climbs out of the bed, pulling an oversized cardigan on over his tank top, and staggers out, closing the door behind him.  He nearly falls face-first onto the couch in the living room, then stops himself and wanders into the kitchen to get some cereal.  He's not tired, now; he's more worried about what Gamzee is doing in the room, alone.  Especially after sounding so terrible just an hour or two before.

            He watches television until he can see streaks of navy blue light peeking through the blinds, and then digs out his phone and opens up a new text message.

(970) _uH, vRISKA, aRE YOU UP,_

(719) _Taaaaaaaavros, what are you doing up?  It's way past Pupa Pan's 8edtime!_

(970) _gAMZEE IS ALONE IN THE ROOM, hE SAID HE NEEDS TO PAINT BUT i, aM NOT SO SURE IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO LEAVE HIM ALONE,_

(719) _Ugh, Tavros, I don't want to talk a8out your dum8 rel8ionship pro8lems right now._

(970) _pLEASE, vRISKA, i'M A LITTLE, tHAT IS, hE AND i SMOKED SO i THINK i'M A LITTLE PARANOID HE'S GOING TO, mAYBE,_

(970) _kILL HIMSELF OR MAYBE ME OR MAYBE i AM JUST YOU KNOW BEING CRAZY,_

            There's a little silence on Vriska's end, and Tavros starts chewing at his lip.  He doesn't talk to her a lot about these kinds of things - or anything, really, because if she can't talk about her life, she probably doesn't want to talk about his - but he doesn't know who else to contact right now.  Everyone else is having their own problems.  He almost smiles, thinking about how Vriska is the only one in a stable matespritship.  It's funny, how things change.

(719) _Tavros, you are okay.  Everything is 8kay.  You're just 8eing stupid and paranoid._

(719) _I h8 you smoking with him, it makes you weird and you talk to me a8out shit i just don't caaaaaaaare about._

(970) _i'M SORRY, i'LL STOP IF, tHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WANT ME TO DO,_

(719) _Don't 8e stupid, Pupa. You're good for his crazy 8lood and you know it, so don't be such a baby and come to me looking for asspats!_

(719) _I will not give them. That train has left the station! It's never coming back! Wave good8ye, Pupa!!!!!!!!_

            Tavros finds himself grinning, despite the fact that she's talking about the time she half-heartedly admitted to feeling slightly flush for him, back when they were all still acclimating to the new universe they'd created.  He'd turned her down, and... she respected it.  It had been _so weird_ to see her smile like she had, and she'd told him she was proud of him for finally not stammering over an entire sentence.

            And it was nice.  And this is nice.  And everything is good - Gamzee just gets inspiration at all hours of the day and night.  Of course this is what's going on now.  Vriska is right - she's not always right, he knows that now, and he won't mistake her meddling and pestering and bothering for _real advice_ \- but this time, she's just... right.

(970) _vRISKA, i JUST WANT TO TELL YOU THAT, wHILE IT ISN'T WHAT YOU WANTED BEFORE, i APPRECIATE OUR FRIENDSHIP VERY MUCH AND AM GLAD,_

(970) _tHAT YOU AND i CAN TALK WITHOUT ANYTHING, bAD HAPPENING, }:o)_

(719) _Ugh, stop 8eing adora8le, it's so stupid._

(970) _aLSO, i WANTED TO ASK HOW JOHN WAS DOING, aND IF HE WAS UP WITH YOU RIGHT NOW,_

(719) _How should I know????????_

(970) _yOU LIVE WITH HIM, yOU SAID SO, dURING THE PARTY,_

(970) _tO ME AT LEAST, wHICH MIGHT HAVE MADE IT A JOKE, bUT IF IT WAS, iT WASN'T VERY FUNNY, sORRY,_

(719) _Oh.  R8ght.  I f8rgot a88ut that._

(970) _i, uH, dIDN'T TELL ANYONE IF THAT, iS SOMETHING YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT,_

(970) _bUT i THINK THAT YOU SHOULDN'T BE SCARED, tO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JOHN,_

(970) _bECAUSE WE ALL KNOW HE'S GOOD FOR YOU AND THAT, i THINK AT LEAST, yOU ARE A LOT HAPPIER NOW THAN YOU WERE, bEFORE,_

(970) _aND i THINK THAT YOU REALLY ARE jUST A LITTLE, uH, wORRIED THAT WE MIGHT THINK YOU'RE WEAK FOR IT BUT,_

(970) _iF YOU LOOK AT ALL OF US, wE'RE ALL IN THE SAME RELATIONSHIP, aREA OF OUR LIFE, aND WE ARE ALL IN THIS, tOGETHER,_

(970) _tHAT'S WHAT i THINK, aT LEAST, bUT i MAY BE WRONG,_

            Vriska doesn't reply for so long that Tavros almost stops worrying about it, nearly falling asleep watching Animal Planet.  He thinks that if he texted Jade right now, she would be awake, watching the same show.  Maybe.  His phone beeps, finally, and when he reads the text, he can't help but grin.

(719) _I am happier than I ever was. Even when I was lamely flushing red for a looooooooser like you, I wasn't even close to this happy. So you're right._

(719) _8ut that doesn't mean I'm going to go around telling every8ody everything about my relationship!!!!!!!!_

(719) _That would be cheating! >::::) 8ut you win, Tavros! Because you figured it out!_

(719) _So now I can tell you the REAL SECRET!!!!!!!!_

(970) _uH, iS THIS A GOOD SECRET, oR IS IT ONE THAT i WILL REGRET KNOWING,_

(719) _I've 8een doing research because I think that I'm going to 8e incredibly accomod8ing to my matesprit and particip8 in his human rituals of matespritship._

(970) _yOU MEAN, tHEY HAVE A MATESPRITSHIP RITUAL,_

(719) _They don't call it that exactly, 8ut yes!!!!!!!! I will tell  you more when the time is right.  8ut you are the only one who knows, so don't tattle!_

(719) _You know how I feel about that._

            Something about being Vriska's confidante fills Tavros with a strange sense of self-worth, the kind that he can only feel when other people include him, or want him around, or tell him secrets that are good, and not just gossip.  He's not nearly as meek and hesitant as he used to be, but he's still definitely no Rufio.

            Jade told him once that that was okay.  He thinks she might be right.

(970) _i PROMISE NOT TO TELL ANYONE, nOT EVEN GAMZEE, eVEN THOUGH i THINK HE WOULD BE VERY HAPPY,_

(970) _aND i WANT TO SAY THANK YOU, fOR INCLUDING ME IN YOUR BIG SECRET, aND FOR BEING A GOOD FRIEND, eVEN THOUGH IT TOOK YOU, uH, fOREVER TO GET THERE, };o)_

(970) _i MEAN,_ _};;;;o)_

           There's another long, long silence from Vriska, and now he can se the sun's normal rays coming up through the blinds.  It's beautiful, because there's some dust in the air, and it makes the sunlight almost tangible.

            Finally, Vriska replies.

(719) _}::::)_

(719) _I wanted to put John's cute little 8uck teeth there, 8ut it looked really inappropriate!!!!!!!!_

            Tavros throws his head back and laughs, startling Mr. Whiskers from his spot in the kitchen sink, and as though that's all he needed to hear, Gamzee suddenly opens the door from down the hall and calls, "Hey, baby.  C'mere, I want you to get a motherfuckin' look at this."

            There's some trepidation in the way Tavros stands, but he knows it'll be all right.  He tucks his phone into the pocket of his cardigan and heads down the hall, blinking owlishly as he sees that the bedroom's door is open and warm winter sunlight is streaming in through the open window.

            When he comes in, Gamzee smiles wide, covered in paint, and points to the wall.  He's painted it over completely, and instead of splotches of multicolored paint with no rhyme or reason to them, he's finger-painted the entire wall to look just like the view from beyond the window.  In it, the sun is shining.

            "What do you think?"

            Tavros can't feel his expression.  Gamzee's staring at him and he just stands there, looking at the trees visible through the window, then sliding his glance to the wall and seeing the trees, in more abstract designs, continue right along the wall.  There's a fresh layer of frost and snow outside on the yard, but on the wall it's all green grass, and he knows when the snow melts, it'll line up just right.

            "...Uh, Tav?"

            "You are," Tavros says, stepping forward and grabbing Gamzee by the arms, feeling the still-wet paint on his chest as he pulls the other flush to him, and his cardigan is going to be ruined but none of that matters, "The most beautiful thing in this world."

            Gamzee smiles wide once again and grabs Tavros by the horns, pulling him in for a kiss that feels lighter and more carefree than any he's ever given while he was high.  And the sun is shining.

\--

(719) _I will always 8e a little red for you, Tavros, 8ut you have much bigger things ahead than silly little me.  And that is okay.  Really._

(719) _8ecause John's dad is coming out soon and then I will be able to 8e happy forever.  ::::)_


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya wakes up early to greet the day, and Eridan begs her not to spoil his pictures.

            Kanaya wakes up at sunrise every morning.  She has yet to figure out why, exactly, but no matter how late she goes to bed or if she and Rose were having some drinks the night before, she always finds herself waking up when she knows the sun is peeking over the rim of the Earth enough for its rays to land on their home.  They have black-out curtains in the bedroom, but it doesn't make any difference, and never has.

            Rose says it's because of her status as a rainbow drinker, no matter it being former or not, and she also points out that even Alternia's harsh sun had beckoned to her in ways that she had never really understood.  Even if this world's sun is perfectly designed to provide comfort and light to both humans and trolls, it still seems to have the same pull over her that Alternia's had.

            She manages to go back to sleep every time this happens, except for the few days where she feels as though she can make it work for her.  Today is one of those days; she knows that by the afternoon, they will have houseguests and she will be regulating herself to hostess, rather than home-dweller, and at the very least she can use this time to work on some projects.

            Rose doesn't stir when she climbs out of the bed; another strange thing that they've gotten so used to.  There's no need for sopor slime here; recuperacoons are used only in hospitals that cater to troll health, and so when they had arrived on this strange new world, free of the game, they found themselves relying on piles until, slowly, their bodies naturally acquired a taste for beds and comforters.

            Not that Kanaya minds.  Beds are less messy than recuperacoons or piles, and much cozier.  Besides, it's harder to design a room around a pile of bedding than a four-poster bed.

            She knows Rose won't be up for another two hours or so, and so she holds off on starting the coffee machine or making breakfast for her.  Instead, she wanders down the hallway to the studio, pulling her robe closer to her body as she swings the door wide.  The room faces east, letting in every bit of morning light though tall, full-bodied windows.  Though the sky is clear for now, Kanaya can see clouds gathering around and knows that soon enough, it'll be snowing again.  She doesn't particularly mind; she just hopes that Jade will be the one driving today.  Eridan's too skittish when driving, and Feferi...

            Kanaya remembers the last time she was in a car with Feferi driving and winces, making a face as she closes the door behind her and looks to the dress forms arranged throughout the room, the fabric she'd picked out last night still draped over them in a semblance of design.  The choices are still fitting and so she quietly and quickly gets to work, cutting out shapes without patterns to define them, pinning pieces together and taking a few moments to decide on the exact right color thread to use to create a veritably seamless garment.

            She becomes so engrossed in her work that she doesn't hear the door open over the sound of her sewing machine; she takes her foot off of the pedal when two long, slender arms loop over her shoulders, and turns in time for Rose to steal a kiss.

            "Good morning," she says.  Rose just smiles and looks at her handiwork.

            "Seems like you've been busy."

            "I thought it would be better, given that as soon as Eridan shows up, I will be dealing with constantly critiquing his work for him."  As well as whatever he'd been complaining about on Facebook for the last week or so, no doubt.

            Rose laughs quietly and nods, lifting a hand to rub briefly at her eyes.  "I was going to start some breakfast."

            Kanaya nods and, when Rose steps back, she stands, adjusting her robe as she follows her matesprit to the kitchen, admiring the way her swaying hips draws the silk back and forth.  She sees that a seam is starting to loosen from age, but she doesn't say anything.  It's too easy a fix to worry about right now.  "It seems that we're entering the endgame of the year," Rose says idly as they reach the kitchen, going to the refrigerator to pull out some eggs.  "Karkat's officially reached the point where he starts keysmashing on Facebook at three in the morning."

            "I saw.  Your brother didn't seem to be helping things."

            "He's too distracted by his maudlin reflections on a certain lisping psychic, I think, to worry about Karkat's wellbeing."  Kanaya handles the mixing bowl and milk as Rose cracks eggs for omelettes, pausing only long enough to list out some ingredients.  They agree on exactly the same thing, for once.  "And speaking of maudlin, have you noticed that John and Vriska seem remarkably chipper, lately?"

            "I would go so far as to say _open_ ," Kanaya replies breezily.  "Do you suppose someone said something to them, finally?"

            "I wouldn't be surprised."  Rose shrugs her shoulders and Kanaya smiles at the way her neck tilts to the left, slightly.  It's an unconscious thing; Dave does the same thing, only to the right.  It's rather adorable.  She's daydreamed about arranging them in such a way that when they shrugged, their heads would knock together, but she's hardly a prankster.

            "She didn't even reply to Sollux's S.O.S. for information on Aradia," Kanaya adds.

            "Maybe she's distracted.  She does tend to have quite a few irons in the fire at any one point in time."

            Kanaya quirks her lip, watching butter melt in a pan, and says, "I'm sure that she has at least one iron to distract her."  Rose raises an eyebrow at her, but Kanaya keeps a passive face, forcing Rose to laugh first, airily, and Kanaya thinks - in a rather saccharine, but no less true way - that she would love to make a dress out of that laugh.

            They gossip all the way through breakfast, tossing dishes into the sink only to return to them a few minutes later, doing a more thorough job of cleaning once they remember they're expecting guests.  It's starting to get late enough in the morning for them to not feel comfortable lazing around in their robes ( _especially_ considering previous said company), and so Rose disappears into the closet to find clothing to wear, while Kanaya starts the shower, running the water until the pipes warm enough for hot water.  They shower together, doing their level best not to get distracted by soapy kisses and wandering hands, and spend more time lying in bed in their towels on their respective laptops than actually getting dressed.

            They do, eventually, find it in them to gather up their clothes and dress, retreating to the studio afterwards to work on their projects until their guests arrive.  Though Rose has her own knitting to do - on an enormous knitting machine that does the job faster and more efficiently than her needle - she stops here and there so that Kanaya can use her as a model for the dress she's in the middle of designing.

            The baste stitches are in by the time the sound of a hoary, sputtering engine can be heard coming up the long driveway, almost but not entirely overwhelmed by pop music blasting from the vehicle.  Rose and Kanaya share a Look and set their projects aside, heading for the front door together.  Kanaya ducks off to the kitchen to pull out the chicken they need to defrost for dinner, and from her vantage point she can hear the conversation going on just outside the door.

            "-can't believe it took you _this long_ to admit that you like Lady Gaga!"

            "What happened to all the 'nothing-before-2001' stuff?"

            The door opens as Kanaya hears Eridan respond dryly with, "What do you want me to fuckin' say, here?  Leave me the hell alone, you guys like her too!"

            Kanaya returns to the hallway as their three guests enter, Jade wearing far-too-light fabrics for the bitter cold, while Eridan and Feferi are bundled in appropriate (if mismatched, in Feferi's case) cold weather clothing.  "Like who?" Rose is asking.

            "Nobody," Eridan says, just as Jade and Feferi say, "Lady Gaga!"

            "Ah, yes," Rose sighs, "The neverending debate as to whether or not Eridan is truly a hipster.  I don't think enjoying popular music bodes very well for you, in that case."

            "Hey, fuck you, I'm  not a fuckin' hipster!"

            "You are," Kanaya says, and Eridan shoots her a petulant look but falls silent.  Kanaya has to resist biting her lip when she notices Feferi look a little irritated, but she manages, just barely.  It's hard, though, considering she also has to keep from rolling her eyes when she notices that Eridan's brought along his portfolio.  As if she had any doubt.

            "Gosh, it was snowing pretty bad for a little bit of the ride!" Jade is telling Rose, who looks amused at the fact that she's carrying most of the conversation, allowing Rose to simply listen.  "I thought we were going to go off the road at one point, because this big-rig nearly steamrolled us-"

            "But Eridan managed to grab the wheel," Feferi cuts in, grinning wide and so proudly.  Eridan looks intensely uncomfortable.

            "Just didn't want to end up on the side'a the road like a fuckin' piece'a roadkill," he mumbles, before looking at Kanaya.  "Got anythin' to drink?"

            Feferi tuts.  "It's only two, Eridan!"

            "I meant, like, water!"

            Kanaya motions with a hand.  "Come along; you can help me get something for everyone.  Rose?"

            "Tea," her matesprit replies, and even without specifying, Kanaya knows exactly what kind she wants.  Jade and Feferi second the motion.  Eridan is strangely quiet as they break away from the other three, still holding on to his portfolio as though it's all he can think about.  Knowing him, it really is.

            They reach the kitchen and Eridan leans his hip against the far counter as Kanaya puts the kettle on and finds one of the tea sets Tavros bought for them.  He clicks his nails against the tile and, quickly, Kanaya feels herself losing the will to beat around the bush.

            "Is something the matter?" she asks, stopping only to get him a glass of water before coming over to lean against the counter with him.  He pulls at his scarf with his free hand, unbuttoning his coat.

            "It's..."  He pauses, waits, continues, "Here, just, fuckin' look at this."

            Kanaya withholds a sigh as Eridan opens up his case, pulling out a manila folder that looks... surprisingly thin.  It's rare to see Eridan bring less than a full roll's worth of pictures, and Kanaya's eyebrow raises as he slides it over to her like in a drug deal gone horribly fashionista.

            She flips open the folder and looks at the first picture.  Flips it over to catch the second picture - again, and again, until she goes through the whole set.  "Eridan," she says, measuring her words even more carefully than usual, "These... are very good."

            "I - what?"

            "These are good," she says again, looking at him and unable to stop from looking simply impressed.  "These are _very_ good."

            Eridan flushes purple and she looks down to hide her smile, surprised that she's complimenting him without much thought.  The pictures he usually shows her are always good, or at least okay, but they usually lack a real subject and make up for it in odd angles and overexposure.  But Eridan's pictures of Jade, awkward poses, tangled hair, laughing and scowling expressions...

            "I just, she was - we were hanging out and I thought, well, I was almost out of film, so-"

            "She was posing for this one?"

            "Yeah, anyway, I just - I don't want critique, Kan, don't even fuckin' start that shit, it's too goddamn soon to get you up my ass about fuckin' overexposure or the lighting or shadows or _whatever_ -"

            "And these?"

            "No, she was just goofin' off.  Seriously, Kan, are you listenin' to me?  Don't critique 'em more than you really feel fuckin' compelled to do.  I don't want to ruin these.  I just-"

            "The shadows are a bit steep in this one, but really, you seem to adjust for it in the next-"

            " _Kan_ , just listen to me for a flipperin' fuckin' second!"  Kanaya looks up to see Eridan completely flushed and very close to furious.  He looks a little scared, too, and Kanaya can't bring herself to hurt his feelings - not that there's much here to use.  The pictures _are_ very good.  He lets out a breath and crosses his arms, withdrawing, scowling, and saying, "Look.  I just - want to know if I missed somethin'.  Like if she's got some kinda horrible face or somethin' in one'a these, because.  I was gonna give her them for fuckin' Christmas or whatever, but if she looks fat, or ugly, or somethin' in any of 'em and I didn't notice, she's gonna fillet me."

            It takes her a moment to file the pictures back into the folder properly, and then she sets them down and puts her hand, gently, over his.  He tenses like a coil and Kanaya can't help but wonder what _happened_ here, really?  It's been years; that should have been long enough for him to work through most of his issues, but he doesn't seem to have changed.  She worries for him, and worries for Feferi because it must hurt to see your former moirail, the one you want to be with again, so... well, messed up.

            "Eridan, I will be completely honest with you.  These are the sorts of pictures and the sort of lighting used in professional fashion and photography magazines.  _This_ is the sort of thing you should be striving to achieve with every subject you have."

            "I can't do that," he says, quickly, looking flattered, relieved, and yet still panicked.  "But if they're okay and she looks okay-"

            "They are, and she does."

            The kettle starts to stir, and Eridan pulls his hand away as the whistling builds under the cap.  "Then good, I can give 'em to her."  Kanaya looks at him as he shuffles the pictures back into their case, and is only pulled away from what she believes to be quite the intimidating stare-down by the kettle, moving to pull it off the stove before the whistling gets too shrill.  She fills the teapot, adds the strainer of Egyptian licorice tea (from Aradia), and sets it to steep as she turns back to Eridan, who's looking at the case on the counter.

            "I cannot begin to fathom why you would assume I could pick out some discrepancy in your pictures that you yourself would be unable to pinpoint yourself, but what I will say is that you should show them to Feferi and get her opinion."  Eridan opens his mouth, most likely to protest, and she swiftly continues, "She lives with Jade, and sees her far more than I do.  If anyone is qualified to tell you if these are any good, she would be."

            He reluctantly admits, "I know that.  But I don't _want_ to talk to her about this.  It's too much like-"

            "-How it used to be, maybe?"  He scowls and she smiles, turning back to the tea tray and arranging everything on it.  "I doubt that will become a problem.  Just talk to her, Eridan.  Stop being such a silly little thing and do what you know is the right thing to do."  She lifts up the tea tray and breezes by him, quite content with her advice and she thinks, judging by the look on his face, he might actually take it to heart.

            She settles the tray on the table between the three women, taking her seat next to Rose's and finding her hand between the chairs briefly before helping Jade serve the tea.  Eridan comes loping into the room a few moments later, and though he's presented with the choice to sit by Jade or Feferi, he doesn't hesitate to sit next to his former moirail.  Kanaya smiles.

            "So, then," she says, "What were you saying, about a certain hipster enjoying Lady Gaga?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux gets his Christmas present from Dave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this suits! We're moving into the Christmas part of the fic, so hopefully I can get all that done in time to do one or two fics for New Years. Needless to say, some of the characters will focus on the holiday, while others will focus on the change of the years.  
> The mix is located on 8track, and a link is posted at the bottom of this chapter for you guys :)

            At 12:01 AM, December 25th, Sollux gets a sudden influx of e-mails.  A lot of them are automated "Happy Holidays!" notifications from the dozens of sites and games he's got accounts for, and a few are notices of sales going live on some of his favorite online stores.  All in all, it's a bunch of spam cluttering his inbox.  He clears it out without thinking twice about it.  A minute and a half later, another e-mail arrives; this one is from Dave.  All it says is:

 **TO: twiinarmageddons@gmail.com**   
**  
FROM: turntechgodtier@gmail.com  
SUBJECT: undelete that shit you asshole**   
_  
seriously look at your senders list once in a while you jerkass_

            It's almost creepy that Dave knows his modus operandi when it comes to too many spam messages in too short a timeframe, but he just chuckles it off and clicks through his trash until he finds the e-mail Dave must've sent him.  In truth, there are two; the first is a mass e-mail entitled, "shit, let's be santa," and the second reads, "for your duality fetish."

            He pounces on the first one, which he knows is going to be the mix Dave had given him a sample of almost two weeks ago.  The e-mail's recipients are listed and it only takes him a second to see that everyone is there.

 _alright motherfuckers heres your present_   
_  
dont say i dont do anything nice for you i mean seriously this is pretty much the shit right here  
_   
_if santa claus was real_   
_  
sorry tavbro hate to break it to you but that bitch is faker than fake just ask ampora hell probably espouse all about it  
_   
_that ones for you rose  
anyway if santa was real he would be pissing his jolly black boots in fear for the fucking sentimental thoughtfulness in this gift so cherish it and if you lose the mp3 you are dead to me_

            There's already a response waiting in Sollux's inbox; it looks like it's going to be one of those kinds of e-mails.  Sollux hits the download button for the attachment and goes to investigate the response.  It's from Rose, and all it says is, _Very good, bro._

            Then, from Karkat:

 _THIS IS COMPLETE BULLSHIT, THERE'S NOTHING FUCKING SENTIMENTAL ABOUT AN E-MAIL ATTACHMENT.  YOU'RE LUCKY I'M NOT ANYWHERE NEAR_ _FUCKASS_ _,_ _TEXAS_ _, OR ELSE I WOULD COME OVER THERE AND SHOW YOU JUST HOW FUCKING SENTIMENTAL YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE RIGHT NOW.  IT WOULD INVOLVE A SUGAR-COOKIE COATED MACE AND YOUR UGLY MUG. HO HO HO, FUCKASS._

            It's stilted and it's obvious he's toning it down, which makes it kind of even worse.  Sollux tries hard not to yell out for Karkat to stop trying to black romance Dave - it's embarrassing for everyone involved.

 _baby if you want to strangle me with mistletoe all you have to do is ask_   
_  
im up to try pretty much anything once  
by the way stop hitting reply all its getting annoying you guys_

            The music downloads and Sollux pops it on his media player, turning it up and pumping up the bass just to annoy Karkat, who he can hear growling in the other room.  The music washes over him and he leans back in his chair, closing his eyes and breathing it in, because it feels so fucking _good_.  Better than he could ever feel without it.  He can't get this happy, this _content_ , without some kind of external stimuli, some kind of nudge here or there, and Dave's the only one who ever really gets it right more often than not.  And yet there's six hours separating them - more, with Dave in Houston with his brother for Christmas (or Festivus?  Or Kwanza?) - and Sollux can't drive, he hates driving, and -

            He tries hard to shake himself out of that thought process.  He can't think about it - about how he's too stupid and scared about driving to even try it, or about how Dave completely dropped the subject of him moving in, like it really was just a joke like Karkat kept saying, or about how he just wants to curl up and listen to the music and try not to think about how stupid and pathetic he is.  It's hard.  It's almost too hard to stop, a bullet train heading straight for Self Loathing, bypassing Hey Fuckass You're Not That Bad before making a sudden stop at This One's For You, when the music suddenly drops and twines together two conflicting basslines and beats.  They sound flawless together.

            He sighs and sags and listens to Dave setting up his part of the mix, all but tasting it as the beats thud all around him.  By the time his part is over, he has four new e-mails but is too boneless to read them; he almost sags out of his chair, eyes opening with way too much effort for him to click through the other e-mails.

 _i KNOW THAT sANTA ISN'T REAL, bUT ANYWAY, tHIS IS VERY THOUGHTFUL AND i THINK i ALREADY SEE THE PATTERN, iF YOU FOLLOWED A PATTERN, bUT IF YOU DIDN'T THEN i MIGHT BE MISSING MOST OF IT, bUT EITHER WAY i THINK THIS IS VERY NICE, tHANK YOU, }:)_

 _this is sooooo cool!!!!  you are the best mixmaster!!!  also happy holidays guys i hope you get a lot of good presents from the totally not fake santa claus shut up dave you big spoilsport_

 _harley please dont fuckin tell me you actually believve in that shit i swwear i am not comin ovver for late night christmas dinner if you are i wwont be able to look at you right evver again_

 _wow you two get a room_

            Sollux can hear the music winding down, drifting more dreamily through the hemospectrum as it climbs; he knows Dave doesn't know the blue-and-purple-bloods that well, and while it's not completely apparent in the way the song is constructed, he can hear the hesitance in the beats nonetheless.  The last one he really seems to get is Terezi.  He'll listen to the whole thing, obviously, but that doesn't stop him from digging through the new e-mails to find the second one Dave had sent him.

 **TO: twiinarmageddons@gmail.com**   
**  
FROM: turntechgodtier@gmail.com  
SUBJECT: for your duality fetish**   
_  
this is like a 2 for one deal in itself_   
_its a present plus a riddle and youre the only coolkid hacker i know so ill bet youll figure this out in no time  
just so you know im on skype  
_   
_might have to deal with bro though but best buddies gotta learn to deal with weird fucking family right_

            This one is written in blue, instead of the normal red, and it all plays so well into his so-called fetish that he can hardly stand it.  Sollux swallows down past the thudding of the bass and opens the attachment ( _whosafraidofthebigbadbat.zip_ ); when he opens it up, he finds 5 MP3s, though they're only labeled by the track numbers.  He unzips it, tucks it away on his desktop, and listens to the mostly-ironic beat of near-hoofstamps going on in his room.  Karkat is pounding on his door but he just flicks a psionic bit of light at the handle and it drives him away, yelping.  It might've been too much power.  Sollux doesn't care, just as long as he can feel the music everywhere around him.

            Equius's beats turn out to be one of the sexiest on the track and Sollux isn't sure how to feel about that.  His own feel even worse, though, dirty and raunchy and he's memorized the timestamp for when it starts, so he can listen to it over, once he's finished solving Dave's stupid riddle.

            The mix ends with some psuedo-Japanese music that sounds like it belongs in DDR, and then his room is suddenly silent and strangely empty.  He can hear music through the walls, though, and it sounds like Karkat's listening to the part probably dedicated to him again.  Sollux wants to make fun of him for being so enamored with Dave, but he can't - it'd just be hypocritical.  How can he make fun of Karkat, when he's eagerly opening the mini-mix-tape that he knows Dave prepared solely for him?  It's pathetic, but he can't stop himself.

            It's made entirely of dubstep remixes of random songs; he recognizes the second one as one of the first mixes Dave ever had him listen to, and the fourth and fifth tracks are remixes of Katy Perry's "Waking up in Vegas" and the Mama's and the Papa's "California Dreaming" - a song he's heard before during one of Karkat's shitty movies.  It doesn't take him long to realize that the track titles are the important part of this, not the music, but the other two are too fucking obscure.

            He sits back and listens to them on repeat, trying to figure out the titles.  It's an easy code to break - all he'd have to do is type out some of the lyrics into a search engine and let it find the songs for him - but he wants to give it his best anyway.  Just to see if he can.

            He listens to track one three times before he memorizes the lyrics, singing along the next time he puts it on. 

 _All the gods lost, two-to-one, and holes to heaven pointed out to us from light years away; we're surrounded by a billion galaxies...  Things are not always - things are not always what they seem; will you be ready?  Will you be ready?_

 _Things... Will you be ready?  ...Things..._

            It repeats so much in the song that he goes ahead and assumes; "Will You be Ready" comes just before "Move With Me," then...  What?  He can't make out three at all.  It doesn't have actual lyrics.  ...Actually, all it does is talk about Los Angeles, like it's under attack.  Is this from some fucking shitty game or something?

            Oh.

            _Shit!_

            Sollux shoves away from his computer and moves to his bed, grabbing a pillow and smothering himself with it briefly, letting out a howl into it and earning a shout from Karkat.  "I'm on the fucking phone, fuckass, keep it down!"

            " _Shut up, KK, I don't give a fuck!_ "

            He throws his pillow at the wall, leaps back into his chair and logs onto Skype.  Within only a few seconds of logging in, he's got a video call waiting from Dave.  He takes a few breaths, runs a hand through his hair and answers it.

            "Took you long enough, bro," Dave says, leaning into the camera.  He's still got his fucking shades on.  Sollux doesn't even know what color his eyes are, and the douchebag is -

            "Is this him?"  Dave is shoved unceremoniously to the side as his brother takes his place at the camera, his own shades on and flickering vaguely of their own accord.  Sollux is pretty sure they serve as the guardian's own computer.  "I was wondering if my brother was making you up, like his internet girlfriend from Canada."

            "I never said-"

            "Yeah, I'm him," Sollux says, and he's not even sure which _him_ he is at this point, but it doesn't matter.  He grins with all his fangs and Dave's brother raises an eyebrow.

            "Eager little fucker."

            " _Bro_ -"

            "Which one was he, anyway?  Is he that prince guy?"

            "Ugh, fuck no," Sollux says, "That'th Eridan.  He'th a fucking douchebag, do I look like a pompouth fuck?"

            "Oh, _wow_ ," the guardian says, "You didn't mention the lisping.  Ain't that fucking adorable."

            "Downright cuddly," Dave drawls from his position behind his brother, trying (and failing) to shove him out of the camera.  "Look, bro, I know you want to get all up in my Sprint circle, macking on every Alternian I have on my speed dial, but have some fucking dignity, man.  Have some respect."

            "I'm only making sure that my little bro isn't making a terrible mistake," Bro says, leaning backwards and grabbing at Dave's collar, dragging him around to give him an incredibly awkward looking hug around the shoulders.  "I have to protect you."

            "From who, this lisping fucker?  He couldn't hurt me if he wanted to."

            "What are you talking about?" Sollux snaps, "Of courth I could.  I jutht _wouldn't_."

            With one final shove, Dave gets his brother out of the frame and takes his camera back.  Sollux realizes that he's wearing that godawful sweater again, but this time it just makes him blush.  "Yeth," he spits out, before Dave can even open his mouth.

            "Yes what?"

            " _Yeth_ , you tool, you know what I'm talking about, don't play dumb!"  Dave's face doesn't change and Sollux wonders, suddenly, if he's gotten it wrong.  If the code wasn't really a code, just a way to trick Sollux in some attempt to piss him off, like a punishment or something - "I mean, if I even got your dumb code, wath there even a code at all?  Or are you jutht fucking with me?  If you are, I will fucking end you, Dave-"  He can see the slow smirk spreading across the coolkid's face and he scowls.  "Oh, you gigantic prick."

            "I don't know what you're talking about."

            "Dave," Sollux says, slowly, enunciating every word as clearly as he can, "Do you want me to move with you to Loth Angeleth, or _what_?"

            "Will you be ready," Dave says.

            "What?"

            "That's what I asked, exactly.  Will you be ready to move with me to Los Angeles?  Waking up in Vegas?  California dreaming."

            "The latht two don't even fit."

            "We'd have to drive through Vegas to get to our California dream," Dave points out."

            "...Oh."

            "Is that what you're saying yes to?"

            "Yeah.  That'th what I'm thaying yeth to.  Get me out of thith shitty fucking townhome."

            And when Dave grins - smiles, more like, but it's so fucking ridiculously pleased that Sollux can't help but think it's a grin - all the troll wants to do is grab him and kiss him.  Even if that's not part of the deal.  He's pretty sure Dave just wants a good friend to room with.

            Even if that's all it is, Sollux can't think of anything better than moving to L.A., where Aradia is and where Dave _will_ be.

            It's fucking perfect.

            "You're fucking perfect," he says before he thinks, and he can hear a cat-call from somewhere on Dave's side of the screen.  Dave's face has gone blank.  Sollux winces and rushes to fix it, "I mean, who elthe would know to athk me to move with them through fucking dubstep?"

            "Who else would want you to move in with them?" Dave replies, drawling, and Sollux flips him off.  "But you're right.  I _am_ fucking perfect.  And that's why you're moving with me."

            "That and I can't handle KK flipping out every time I talk about you."

            "Do you talk about my brother often?" Dave's guardian calls from offscreen.

            "All the time," Sollux says, and while Dave's brother only hears the sarcasm, he can tell that Dave can see the sincerity in his face.  Dave runs his teeth over his lower lip, then smiles sincerely back.

            "Cool."

            "Yeah."

            "We'll talk more when Aradia's not fucking snowed in, since obviously we need to live near to our sexy time gal, right?"

            "Obviouthly."

            Sollux feels little bits of energy popping off of him and Dave says, "You're gonna set your bed on fire."

            "I don't care, I'll get a new one."

            "Yeah, that one is a piece of shit, we're getting Ikea furniture next time.  Real manly furniture."  There's a crash from Dave's side of things and the human looks off screen, staring for a moment before saying, "Bro is cracking out the second bottle of eggnog, so I gotta go."

            "Did he nearly kill himthelf with a bunch of shitty thwordth?"

            "Yep."

            "All right, fucking go then.  Thave your brother.  He needs it."

            Dave nods, shoots him a half-assed salute and hangs up without saying another word.  Sollux sits and stares at his empty screen for a full minute before turning on _California Dreaming_.  A few minutes later, he gets one last e-mail:

 **TO: twiinarmageddons@gmail.com**   
**  
FROM: turntechgodtier@gmail.com  
SUBJECT: you're coming out for new years right**   
_  
y/n_

 

            Sollux grabs his screaming pillow and, amidst yelling into it, he manages to type out:

 **TO: turntechgodtier@gmail.com**   
**  
FROM: twiinarmageddons@gmail.com  
SUBJECT: RE: you're coming out for new years right**   
_  
no way ii can 2ay no 2 that._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [whosafraidofthebigbadbat.zip](http://8tracks.com/devilishkurumi/whosafraidofthebigbadbat-zip) \- plus 3 songs that I couldn't include in the chapter but are totally songs Dave has sent to Sollux before.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nepeta, Equius and Aradia spend 12th Perigee's Eve together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pre-emptive trigger warning for some hunting business, but hopefully it's okay for everyone. These are the [two](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlyKjb3Iw3c) [songs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqpSaOAXDmY) I had in mind while writing this chapter. Merry Christmas!

            Nepeta wakes up before Equius on the twenty-fourth.  She dresses stealthily in the most comfortable snow leopard print sweater she has, over her long underwear and another thick, long sleeved shirt, pulls on her toughest boots and creeps quietly through the dark house, pausing when Equius's snoring hitches as she steps on a squeaky board, then continuing on once his breathing evens out again.  She's not doing anything he'd stop her from doing, but she likes the illusion that she's sneaking out all the same.

            Her stealth mission is ruined when she sees the television on - surely there's no way for her to get past Aradia!  But she tries anyway, crouching on all fours and slinking behind the sofa.  It's only when she gets to the front door that she realizes that Aradia's fallen asleep there; giggling silently at her own silliness, Nepeta creeps out the door and closes it gently behind her, making sure it closes to keep from letting out the heat from the central air system.  The power came back on three nights ago, but the wireless internet service is still down.  Actually, other than electricity and basic cable, helped along by two long antennae, they're still pretty much stuck!

            That's apparent by the fact that Aradia's rental car is still covered in snow; Equius had tried to dig it out, earlier on, but Aradia had waved him away and directed his attention back to the horses.  It's silly, really, but the stable is actually warmer than the house - all because Equius has taken every precaution when it comes to his animals.

            Nepeta's weight distributes evenly over the top of the snow drifts as she stalks out past the paddock to the treeline; her boots and hands only leave the lightest imprints a troll of her weight can leave.  The snow isn't coming down hard, but it _is_ still coming down - this has been the longest snowstorm they've ever had, and Aradia would probably be beating herself up over not leaving when she had the chance almost a week ago, if it weren't for how hospitable Equius has been to her.

            Purring at the clear appreciation her moirail has been showing for Aradia's presence, Nepeta makes her way through the trees.  Today isn't exactly the right day for Twelfth Perigee's Eve, but it's not like months are anything like what they had on Alternia.  And even if no other trolls celebrate the holiday here, Nepeta and Equius have been pretty good about it; at some point, they incorporated some Christmas festivities, since it was easier to find decorations for than anything else, but there's no Santa Claws, or reindeer, or that weird Jegus guy Dave mentions from time to time.  It's just them, a tree to represent a behemoth leaving, and of course...

            The sound of branches cracking draws Nepeta's attention; the snow here is only a light dusting, no more than two or three inches, given the thick canopy of evergreen trees, but that's all she needs to blend in with as she crouches down and waits.  It takes twenty minutes before she sees a young buck picking its way across the ground, looking for food.

            The mighty huntress crouches low, back arching as she presses her chest to the snow.  The deer has no idea that she's watching it, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and her claws knead at the dirt below the snow, drawing only whispers of noise -

            The buck looks up, suddenly, right at her, and without so much as a yowl, Nepeta surges forward, propelling herself forward with her hind legs and reaching out far with her claws, glinting metal in the slowly rising sunlight -

            She misses.

            Hissing as the buck takes off, Nepeta lunges after the deer, her boots finding purchase on the snow, even as it gets thicker and heavier the closer they get to the treeline, and though the deer has no trouble weaving in and out of the trees, it does have trouble navigating the heavy snow.  Nepeta knows as soon as it clears the treeline, though, she'll have trouble keeping up, and if it backtracks -

            The buck clears the treeline and hurtled forward, bounding too high for Nepeta to leap after it, and when it swerves and kicks snow into her face, she yowls and tries to slash at its hind-quarters, missing by a stupid mile, and _damn_ , this guy is gonna get away!

            Suddenly, Aradia is hurtling out in front of the deer, who veers suddenly as she hollers at it, misjudging its direction and moving closer to the paddock.  Nepeta doesn't miss this time, lunging out and catching her claws into her prey, bringing it down in a whirl of snow and steaming air.

            The mighty huntress, her prey finally captured, looks up to the world-traveling adventurer and sees the troll that used to play FLARP, who she remembered hearing stories about when she got all the latest game gossip.

            "Nice job, Nepeta!"

            Aradia's out of breath but excited, stepping from foot to foot to keep herself warm, considering she's only wearing a long-sleeved shirt and one of her light cardigans.

            "Aradia!  That was purrfect timing!  How'd you know I was out here, though?  You were asleep!"

            Aradia just grins and shrugs, gesturing to the deer.  "I had a feeling you were going to be hunting today, what can I say?  Besides," she laughs, "The door sort of banged open and woke me up."  Nepeta flushes and almost rubs the back of her head bashfully, stopping when she realizes her hands are a mess.  "C'mon, let's get this guy back to the house!  You know, we could've just tried going into town..."

            "That wouldn't be any fun at all, and you know it!"

            The two of them take almost half an hour to haul the deer back to the house, and by the time they stumble up the steps to wash up and get some breakfast before going back out to clean Nepeta's kill, Equius is stepping out of the front door.  He looks at the deer for a moment and then smiles.

            "I see you've brought home dinner," he says, and Nepeta giggles at his little form of a joke, nudging him with her shoulder.  "I will be glad to tie it up in back when I'm done feeding the horses."

            "Thank you, Equius," Aradia says, and his smile gets so awkward that Nepeta can't decide whether she should laugh or feel bad.

            "It's nothing."

            Nepeta leaves them to their awkward conversation and bounds inside.  "I'm gonna start some breakfast," she calls, and though she has to take a few minutes to scrub her hands and her claws clean, Aradia doesn't come back in until she's already getting the eggs out of the fridge.

            "You two have been pawfully furrendly lately," Nepeta sing-songs, and she can feel Aradia blushing even without seeing her.

            "Well, I _am_ staying here a lot longer than we expected me to," Aradia says, teasingly chiding the other troll.  "Wouldn't it be weird if we _weren't_ being friendly?"

            "I guess!"

            Aradia's a good help in the kitchen, despite the fact that she only ever gets take out back in Los Angeles, and between the two of them breakfast is completely ready by the time Equius returns to the house.  He has to go clean the blood off his hands and put his shirt through the wash, but once it's in the washer and he's somewhat cleaner, he comes and sits with them while they eat and talk about the snow.  It's all they can really talk about, now that most of their other conversational topics have run out - not that Nepeta minds.  She retells the story of how she caught the deer for Equius, playing up Aradia's part in it.  Then again, she also paints a picture of a vicious battle, and somewhere along the line she imagines the deer to be more like the fierce hoofbeasts of the Alternian forests.

            Equius gives her a bittersweet look, and Nepeta rubs the back of her head.  It's not like she makes a point to show how much she misses her home - it comes out like that, sometimes, is all.  She doesn't think about it and then suddenly it's all she has on her mind.  It's infuriating.

            Equius and Aradia forcibly take over cleaning up breakfast, leaving Nepeta to head out back, wearing her claws once more, along with an apron to help protect the majority of her clothes.  Preparing an animal comes as second nature to her, and she doesn't think about it much; she just cuts and skins and guts the way she imagines Eridan takes his photographs or Gamzee paints his pictures.

            The comparison earns a shudder from her - she doesn't like Gamzee's paintings at all.  And while she's mostly forgiven him, there's always a lingering fear that he might come after them again, and no matter how much Equius has changed, she's sure he'd hesitate long enough to get killed again.  And unlike in SGRUB, there's no do-overs here.

            But it's not the time to be thinking about things that upset her, and so she pushes her thoughts aside, thinking instead about how Terezi and Karkat will probably be on the phone all day today - oh, right, nothing that might upset her - and how Aradia is probably leading Equius through a conversation that isn't as stilted as it was when she first showed up.  That does make her smile, because she really likes the idea that the two of them might be realizing their hidden potential!  She's been giving them as much time alone as she can, really, since she doesn't want to be the third wheel, rolling along and ruining any special moments they might have.

            It makes her think about how she's three quadrants short, but really, she's okay with that.  She's got Equius, and maybe one day she'll find those special someones to fill the rest of her life, but she's got a long time to look.

            It's a little after eleven when she's able to store the majority of the venison in the shed they've put an extra freezer in, and she pulls out enough to make for a good dinner tonight before heading back in.  Aradia and Equius are on the couch, staring at a staticky daytime soap opera on the television, and Nepeta giggles when she sees that Aradia's propped her feet up on his legs.  "Don't let me interrupt!" she says as they turn to look at her, and though Equius looks embarrassed, he doesn't try to change the situation.  Aradia winks at Nepeta, who trills and stores the venison in the fridge for the timebeing, digging around for other food they can put together into some kind of big feast.  The bread is starting to get stale, so she gathers it up with some leftover breakfast bacon and an onion - stuffing, venison and mashed potatoes sounds pretty good to her!

            Before she can even think to start making dinner, though, she has to go wash up; it doesn't take too long, but she has to run the washer twice to make sure her clothes are all clean, and she's _definitely_ going to have to wash the machine out.  There sure is a lot when it comes to everyday chores, and just like thinking about home, the amount of work she does in a day sneaks up on her.  Equius has his own chores, of course, but hers feel really domestic and pretty boring.

            Then again, she also gets to kill their food once in a while, so it all evens out!

            Aradia offers her a space on the couch once she returns, showered and dressed in another fluffy leopard print sweater, and so Nepeta climbs between the two of them and curls up against Equius as they watch the barely-watchable television.  After a while, though, she starts to feel less like a mighty huntress and more like a lazy housecat, so she pushes herself up and goes to start dinner; Aradia joins her as Equius leaves to check on the horses.

            They talk about how delicious dinner's going to be, especially since Aradia's never had venison before, and they gossip as much as they can, given that they don't have the internet to check on people.  Aradia gets a text, which surprises the both of them - the wireless has been down, and usually that means the cell phone networks are down too.

            She contemplates it for a moment before smiling and tucking her phone away.  "You're not gonna answer it?" Nepeta asks, raising her eyebrows.

            "Nope!  They think I'm still snowed in, and I don't think I want them to think differently."  She grins, "I don't think I'm ready to listen to all the drama going on right now."

            "What drama?" Nepeta asks, unable to resist - she checks in on her friends online, but not often enough to know all the latest gossip.

            " _Well_ ," Aradia says, drawing out the syllables a bit as she considers her answer, smiling and rubbing her chin as though it's really hard for her to decide what she's talking about.  "Sollux and I talk a lot, and it seems like the other hero of time is causing all degrees of a ruckus out there!  Karkat really didn't like him asking Terezi to be his moirail on Thanksgiving-"

            "I didn't even know humans could _have_ meowrails!"

            "Well, it's not really something they need," Aradia replies, "But Terezi doesn't mind, I guess!  She doesn't think it's worth explaining the differences between moirails and best friends to him."  Or maybe she thinks Dave could use one, Nepeta thinks, but she doesn't say it.  "Anyway, it triggered all sorts of emotional responses from him, and now I guess, according to Sollux at least, he's pretty black for the guy!"

            "Oh no!"  Aradia looks surprised at Nepeta's aghast expression, but she can't help it.  "Karkitty would be terrible in a black romance!  I've done all the research!"

            "Well..."  Aradia shrugs, helpless, "Maybe he'll grow into it.  But it doesn't really matter, apparently Dave turned him down really hard."

            Nepeta's not sure how to feel about that.  "That's so sad... but still good!  I don't think he would be able to do that sort of thing without making a purrty big mess of it!  He's too nice for things like that, like Tavros."

            "Don't let him hear you say that," Aradia says with a laugh.  "He'd probably be offended that you think he's nice."

            "Yeah, well..."  Nepeta blushes and goes to turn on the stovetop.  "He _is_ nice!"  Aradia doesn't respond right away, and Nepeta tenses, ready to turn around and find her staring, but when she does, Aradia appears to just be distracted by the window.  Nepeta leans over and sees Equius leading one of the horses around a small, snow-shoveled area of the grass.  "Maybe I should be purrsuing gossip from here~!" Nepeta singsongs, earning a briefly startled look from the other troll.

            "There's not really any gossip," Aradia admits, leaning against the counter as Nepeta starts working on putting the stuffing in the oven and getting the mashed potatoes ready.  "Everything's... okay."

            "Don't start that," Nepeta chides, pointing a spoon at her comrade, "It's all going according to plan!"

            "What plan is that?" Aradia asks with a laugh.

            "My plan!  Equius is a lot more relaxed with you around now."  Aradia gives her a skeptical look, and Nepeta can't really blame her.  Her moirail has some serious troubles being calm and relaxed, and even more trouble just going with the flow, but Nepeta knows that he's doing a lot better now than he had when Aradia had first shown up.  "Don't worry about it.  You should just enjoy his company like he enjoys yours!  And then..."  She shrugs, trying for innocent but coming off as someone very interested in seeing the two of them smooch.  She giggles when Aradia pulls a face at her and turns back to her potatoes.  "Just go with it!"

            Their conversation ends when they hear Equius coming up the front porch, and Aradia tips a finger to her mouth to shush Nepeta's giggling as the larger troll comes inside, knocking his boots against the doorframe.  There are little cracks in the wood from him doing that, but Nepeta always replaces it before he can see and lately, it takes a lot longer for him to start breaking the frame.

            Equius doesn't need Nepeta to tell him what to do; he knows that his job is to grill the venison up exactly the right way, and he takes that job really seriously, surprisingly!  Maybe it's because it's the one thing that he can do to help with their pseudo-Perigee's  Eve festivities, or maybe it's just because he takes every job he ever has very seriously.

            Either way, by the time they're done, Equius has grilled the meat to perfection, and after a quick table-setting adventure, they finally settle in around five thirty for dinner.  Nepeta is pleased when Aradia ends up eating nearly as much as her and Equius, and both of them find themselves blushing over her endless stream of praises for the venison.  She's glad that Aradia enjoys it; she'd admittedly had a few worries that a girl who could eat anything the world could offer wouldn't really appreciate something simple like deer.

            Once dinner is done and the three of them have tag-teamed the dishes into submission, Aradia disappears back into her room for a few minutes and Equius goes up to the attic to take care of something he's been working on.  Nepeta hopes it isn't another Aradiabot - she's pretty sure that would be a really awkward kind of gift!

            When Aradia returns, it's with a bottle of brandy.  "I didn't know what to get you guys, so I figured brandy would be good enough!"

            "Purrfect," Nepeta says, giggling, "Equius doesn't let me buy alcohol too often!  Let's open it and coax him downstairs with our feline wiles!"  She grabs some glasses - all plastic, because Equius has a harder time breaking them from accidental grip-tightening - and they fill them up with equal parts brandy and eggnog.  It's the only dairy they have, other than the eggs, that's still good - not that it matters.  It's meant for brandy, right?

            Equius comes downstairs and before he can so much as raise an eyebrow at their drinks, Nepeta pushes a cup into his hand and says, "Merry Perigee!"

            They both stare at him until he finally takes a drink, nearly downing half of the glass.  Aradia is quick to refill the moment one of them runs out, and when they run out of eggnog they move on to drinking it straight, turning up an off-signal Christmas special about a troll who meets Santa Claus and accidentally kills him, then has to take up the man's mantle and deliver children's toys.

            They barely pay attention to it, instead talking about whatever comes up; at some point, after most of the brandy has been drunk, Aradia tells them an embarrassing story about how she sang an Alternian rap song at a karaoke bar with her friends.  She even gives them a taste, and it's suitably awful.

            "You have a lovely voice," Equius says, blue-faced and bleary eyed.  Nepeta squirms away from them under the pretense of filling up her glass again.  "Even with such a particularly terrible song."

            "Oh," Nepeta hears Aradia say, and she can practically hear the woozy drunken blush in her voice, "I... well, I like to sing, I guess!  Even if the songs are really bad."

            Before she can stop herself, Nepeta exclaims, "Equius and you should play together!"

            Equius looks horrified, while Aradia just looks confused.  "What do you mean, Nepeta?"

            "Nepeta-"

            "He plays the guitar!" she chirrups, nearly falling in an attempt to sit down on the chair across from the sofa the two are seated on.  "Equius, go get it!"

            " _Nepeta_ ," he says, sounding absolutely mortified.  Aradia, however, leans over and pushes his shoulder.

            "Yeah, go get it!  I didn't know you played, well, anything!  Let's hear!"

            "I don't think... that I'm in any state to play anything."  He adds, almost like he's apologizing, "I'm not good."  Aradia pushes him again, harder, and he sways slightly before standing with a put-upon sigh.  "Nepeta, I thought I said not to tell... well, _anyone_ -"

            "Too late!" Nepeta crows, and he reluctantly leaves the room.  Aradia giggles and leans back into the sofa as far as it will let her, her cup almost permanently affixed to her lips until he comes back with the second-hand guitar he'd picked up one day in town a year or so ago.  Nepeta bounces on her butt until he sits down and settles the guitar on his knee.

            "What... should I play?"

            "Something seasonal!" Aradia says, grinning wide, "I've got a bunch of them stuck in my head, since they play Christmas music everywhere!"

            Nepeta's not sure Equius even knows any Christmas music, but he looks thoughtfully at Aradia for a moment before nodding.  "I know... a few songs like that."  He sees Nepeta's look and bashfully admits, "They are usually easy to learn."

            "Alright!" Aradia says, clapping her hands together.  "Try it!"

            Equius is sweating, and Nepeta hopes that he isn't so nervous that he snaps all the strings as he plays.  But he strums a little and manages to keep from doing anything to break the guitar; Nepeta's heard him playing the song he starts with a few times before, and now that she knows it's a Christmas song, she can hear _Frosty the Snowman_ in it, even though it's more twangy than the versions she heard on the radio.

            Aradia hears it too, and before long, she and Nepeta are singing the lyrics, trying to match the beat of his guitar.  Aradia's voice is lilting and kind of twangy like Equius's guitar, and when that song is over and Equius looks at Nepeta, she just tilts her head significantly towards Aradia.  He looks, almost reluctantly, but he doesn't need to worry - she looks excited and enthralled by the fact that he knows how to play guitar.

            "You're amazing, Equius!" she says, and he smiles at her.  Nepeta holds back a giggle at how stunned he looks - her moirail's never been very good at getting compliments.

            He plays a few other songs, some of them non-Christmas but most of them, at Aradia's behest, are about winter wonderlands and Santa Claus.  Nepeta finds herself drifting in and out as the songs continue, and when she wakes up long enough to see the two of them talking in low voices, she knows she's been asleep too long to bounce back.  "I think I'm gonna get some sleep," she yawns, and the two of them look at her, a little startled.

            Aradia nods.  "Probably a good idea!"

            Equius looks a little nervous.  "Yes.  You've been asleep for a while..."

            The bottle of brandy, Nepeta realizes, is sitting on the table in front of the sofa, and it's mostly empty.  She yawns again and shakes her head.  "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she says, grinning at Aradia's grin and Equius's darkening blush, and absconds so that they can have their alone time.  Nepeta knows that they need that, after all.

            She ends up in her dark room practically a whole day later from when she left, and, rubbing at her eyes, she reaches to flip on her lights.

            There's a crinkling noise somewhere near her bed and she freezes, imagining the fanged hoofbeasts of Alternia hiding in her room.  She doesn't smell anything that would indicate a threat, though; it just all smells like it usually does, and so she shrugs and flips on her lights.

            A pair of glassy yellow eyes stares at her from a bundle of blankets lying on her bed, and it only takes a few moments before two big, calico ears pop up out of the blankets.

            Nepeta squeals before slapping her hands over her mouth, approaching the cat staring at her with all the caution she had with the deer earlier in the day.  It only takes a few moments before the cat is all over her, a purring bundle of fluff, and she cuddles it to her chest.  It paws and purrs at her until she finds herself heading back down the hall, towards the livingroom.  She can hear Equius playing his guitar - and singing right along with Aradia, with a low and gravelly voice.  She hesitates, briefly, and instead of jumping out to interrupt the two of them in their song, she instead decides to just lean around the corner, cradling her kitten to her chest.

            Equius and Aradia are looking at each other, and even when his fingers snap one of the strings, Equius doesn't even seem to notice.  Aradia laughs, quietly, and breaks off the song in order to lean over and plant a kiss on his cheek.

            Nepeta holds in a gasp, but she's pretty sure even if she'd yowled, her voice wouldn't have penetrated the strange inhaling noise Equius makes.  Aradia laughs again and leans her head against his chest, and Nepeta realizes that thanking Equius for her new pet is just going to have to wait until tomorrow.  Late tomorrow.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Egbert makes dinner, while Vriska makes her own destiny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!!!! One more Christmas-y themed chapter (hopefully done out tonight?), and then we move on to New Years!
> 
> I think you guys will enjoy what I have planned there. :)
> 
> As an added present, I have some [Christmas music](http://seasonsstuck.tumblr.com/post/14765118730/christmas-music) up for download. So there's that, too!

            Mr. Egbert has been at John and Vriska's house for a week now, and he has to admit that he's starting to feel a little bit like a third wheel.  He spends most of his time working on his laptop, of course, but John keeps trying to bring him into activities that would most likely be better suited for just him and his girlfriend.  He doesn't mind it, of course.  He enjoys spending time with John, and Vriska is a nice young girl, if a little bit more brash than Egbert is really used to.  All the same, however, he doesn't want to interfere with their romance by being the curmudgeonly fatherly presence.  Neither of them seem to mind though, even if they occasionally share looks that Egbert can only assume mean that they're hyper aware of the fact that he's around.

            John tells him on the twenty-second that he's pretty much leaving Christmas dinner up to him; in all honesty, it's probably for the best, as he's not sure John knows how to cook more than corndogs and the occasional bowl of oatmeal.  He accepts the duty - with one provision: that he can bake a cake.  John reluctantly agrees to this, and even agrees that he'll eat some of it.

            On the twenty-third, Egbert asks to borrow John's car in order to go get supplies; to his surprise, Vriska offers to come with him.  She never seems comfortable when left around him alone, but she looks determined and John looks pleased, so he accepts her invitation.  She fidgets all through their drive to the market, though, and so when they pull into the parking lot, Egbert reaches over and puts a hand on her shoulder.

            "Ms. Serket, I appreciate your offer to come along, but if you're uncomfortable with me, there's really no reason to put yourself out."

            "I'm not _uncomfortable_ ," Vriska snaps, before sliding her fangs over her lower lip and blushing a deep blue color.  "...Sorry.  I'm just not used to John still having a guardian.  And I read all about how it's weird or something to be living with someone like me and John are, and -"

            It's a little relieving to see Vriska seem so nervous.  She's usually tough as nails and cockier than the Strider brothers, and now that Egbert knows to some extent what's going on with the troll, he feels more in control of the situation.  Always a nice feeling to have.  "For the former, there's nothing much I can do; for the latter, rest assured that I know you and John have a healthy relationship, and I don't have any problems with it."  He offers her a smile that she returns (in a hesitant, half-smirking kind of way), and pats her shoulder before opening up his car door.  "We should really get our groceries before the rush settles in and we lose a good bird."

            Vriska follows him inside and, seemingly more confident now, starts the conversation again.  "I guess that's a relief, that you're not freeeeeeeeaking out about me and John living together.  He told me he asked for your permission, so I guess I just got a little weirded out!"

            "He didn't need to ask my permission," Egbert says, half-agreeing with his son's girlfriend.  It was something that would weird anyone out, he imagined.  "He appreciates my input, but he has to make his own decisions."

            They make a beeline for the turkeys, finding one frozen one of a decent size to encourage leftovers, and Vriska shrugs her shoulders.  "He's a complete doofus," she says, but the tone of her voice belies the fondness within.  She gets momentarily distracted by the other birds offered in the freezer section.  "Duck?"

            "Do you like duck, Ms. Serket?"

            "Never had it."  She looks curious, though, and since he's been able to successfully cook duck on a few previous occasions, he puts the turkey back and picks one of the water fowl instead.

            "It's a shame not to have duck at least once," he tells her, giving her a wink he knows John has learned from him.  She seems to appreciate it, giving another hesitant semi-smile and then helping him pick out some stuffing - dressing, he explains to her, as stuffing is only when it's inside the bird.

            "So, you're okay with me and John living together?" Vriska asks as they move through the produce aisle.

            "I don't see a problem with it.  Ms. Lalonde and I live together, after all.  It's a modern world."

            "Yeah, I guess," she drawls, picking up a few onions before tossing most of them back.  "It's just...  I know for humans, matespritship - dating, I guess you call it - it's usually..."  She gestures vaguely with the onion in hand.  "It's this big deal for you guys.  With like..."

            Egbert pauses, weighing one pack of celery against another.  "A wedding, usually," he says, and his voice comes out as a nearly lazy drawl.  "Though that usually means the end of the dating period."

            "I guess matespritship is more like marriage, then," she says, and he doesn't need to look at her to know that she looks apprehensive.  He's already worked out her ulterior motive to this shopping trip, but that doesn't mean he can't let her squirm just a little.  It's only proper, after all.

            "Even without the ceremonies?"

            "Yeah, even without that.  _Sure_ , it starts out like dating, but it's meant to be long term after a while, and even though you can call it off without... a ruckus, I guess..."

            "It's just as committed as marriage," he agrees.

            "Exactly."

            "So?"

            Vriska makes an annoyed noise under her breath, and he turns in time to see her straighten her posture and tense her shoulders as though she's getting ready to face a firing squad.  "So, I figure I might as well be respectful to John's silly human rituals, since he's okay with being my matesprit!"

            Egbert smiles, which seems to only make Vriska more irritated.  "Are you asking to marry my son, Ms. Serket?"

            "I guess I am!"

            He has to admire her gumption; even as uncomfortable and as nervous as she is, she's still absolutely determined to get his approval here, knowing how important it would be to John.  She's so determined, in fact, that he can feel something niggling at the back of his mind, enticing him to respond positively.

            John has told him about Vriska's powers, just like he's told him of all of the other trolls' powers.  He'd also explained that they aren't as strong as before, nor are they as easily controlled.  So, he knows that she isn't actively trying to manipulate him - she's simply stressed, and that's triggering a reaction.  "You don't need to try and entice me mentally, Ms. Serket," he says, just to make sure his assumptions are correct.  She blinks and immediately raises a hand, as if to cover her mouth, before dropping it down to her side again.

            "...Sorry.  It just sort of... happens."

            "It's all right.  John explained some of the finer points of your powers to me - and I think you'll find I'm not quite so easy to tempt, one way or another."  Another wink, and he picks a bag of celery at last, dropping it in the cart and moving over to the potatoes.

            "...So?"

            He smiles and looks over his shoulder at her.  "So?  Yes, of course.  You have my full permission to marry my son."  He rubs his chin, briefly, then turns back to the potatoes.  "One condition, however.  Assuming you'll be allowing John the honor of seeing you come down the aisle, I would like to request that you allow me to walk you to the alter."

            Vriska doesn't respond.  He ducks to pick up a pre-packaged bag of potatoes, then looks at her.  She looks shocked - something he never really expected to see from her - and she sounds terribly confused when she speaks.  "...What?"

            "Traditionally, the bride walks down the aisle with her father.  Though it wouldn't surprise me for you two to switch roles, I wouldn't have to ask to walk John down the aisle.  Since you don't have a father, exactly, I was hoping you would allow me the honor of filling in."

            She still looks confused, but it's not as though she doesn't understand what he's saying - it's more as though she doesn't understand _why_.  He doesn't press, though; he just smiles at her and pushes the cart towards the checkout.  She trails behind him, silent even as he pays and gets the cart loaded up, and it isn't until they reach the car that she finally responds to his request.

            "Of course."  Her voice sounds a little distant, and maybe a tiny bit afraid, but Egbert doesn't know her well enough to know why such a request would bring such a reaction out of her.  She surprises him with a sudden hug, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing too tightly and too briefly before pulling back, crossing her arms over her chest and raising a hand to flip her hair out off her shoulder.  "I should've known you wouldn't be able to say no!  I'm better for John than anybody else out there."

            The switch between uncomfortable and shell-shocked to confident is so sudden that he's not sure he would ever be able to pinpoint a place where it happened, but he lets it go with a smile.  "You both certainly seem to do well together."

            "Now to keep it a secret," she says, tapping her finger to her lips before helping him with the duck, "He can't know anything until the time is _juuuuuuuust_ right.  Otherwise, it's all ruined!"

            "Absolutely," Egbert agrees, smiling faintly.  "Do you have a ring already, then?"

            "...Oh, yeah!"  She nods, clambering into the car once they've gotten everything tucked into the trunk.  "I bought one online.  I'm not a sucker, I'm going to do this right!"

            "That's all I ask."  Egbert slides into the driver's seat and raises a mostly amused eyebrow at her.  "After all, a father needs to make sure his son is being taken care of."

            "Don't worry, I _aaaaaaaalways_ take care of John!"  She looks so much more confident than she did when they'd left the house, and he can only hope that she manages to hide the severe change in her demeanor so John doesn't expect anything.

            She does an excellent job of it, falling back into a vaguely uncomfortable expression, though it's broken by the smile on her face that seems unable to hide itself.  She easily explains it away to John as being pleased to have convinced Egbert to get a duck instead of a turkey, and he seems to buy that.

            Egbert e-mails Ms. Lalonde before he goes to bed that night to inform her of this new development.  When he wakes, the only response she has is simply, _i thought so!_ , and an animated picture imbedded, which shows terribly rendered fireworks exploding inside a heart.  He can only imagine Strider gave her that, because he knows she generally has more class than that.

            The Egberts have always had Christmas dinner on the twenty-fourth, which is mostly because when John was younger, pulling him away from his gifts was practically impossible.  The tradition's continued on even now, and so Egbert starts making Christmas dinner around ten in the morning.  John is already up, putting yet more presents under the tree and wearing a bright blue sweater, one covered in yarn-threaded kittens wearing little Santa's hats.

            "A gift from Dave?" Egbert asks as his son enters the kitchen.

            "How'd you guess?" John replies in a teasing tone.  "I promised I'd wear it at least one day, so..."

            Vriska comes downstairs sometime around noon, wearing a glittering black turtleneck that seems a few sizes too big for her, but purposefully.  Egbert compliments her on it, sending her stammering with an excuse to go into the living room.  She throws a few pointed verbal barbs at cable television for only showing Christmas specials, but finally settles in to watch _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ , mostly refraining from critiquing the Grinch's particular methods of ruining Christmas.

            John helps a little with the food, but for the most part he spends the day on the couch with Vriska.  Egbert watches them whenever he catches them in view between his roasting, baking and mashing, and he can't see any reason for him to worry about giving his blessing.  John is lying with his feet pressed into the foot of the couch, his head resting on Vriska's stomach as she slumps into the back of the couch, propping her feet on the coffee table.  Her hand is on his hip, her arm lax against his side, and the look of contentedness on John's face is enough to make Egbert certain that his son really is in good hands.

           Vriska eventually wanders into the kitchen, but only when John is upstairs in the bathroom and nowhere near earshot.  "I have an idea," she says, and when she explains her plans to him, he can't help but agree that it's really quite a good way to go about it.  Once again, with his blessing, she blushes and stammers and excuses herself.

            They sit down to roast duck, mashed potatoes, "stuffing" and green beans, as well as a bottle of sweet dessert wine that Vriska seems to enjoy.  It's a good dinner; Vriska eats almost half of the duck by herself, which is a big compliment as far as Egbert is concerned, and John doesn't hesitate to pile on the green beans.  Egbert takes the time to carefully embarrass his son, retelling the time when he threw up his vegetables right there at the table because he couldn't stand the thought of eating them, and the time when he climbed onto the roof to set up a large, slapstick prank for Santa's eventual arrival.  If anything, Vriska seems to enjoy the stories almost as much as the duck.

            They sit around and watch some of _A Wonderful Life_ once they clean up the majority of the dishes, and then Egbert gets the cake.  It's a nice red velvet cake with hand-made frosting, and he had gone out of his way to decorate it with appropriate Christmas fare, so thick that the white base frosting is hardly visible.  Vriska helps him cut the cake, and they give John a modest piece with a large blue and white striped candy cane.  He looks somewhat pleased by the size, especially after he sees Vriska's gargantuan piece and Egbert's own large slice.

            When John hesitates, Egbert points a fork at him.  "You promised, son."

            "And if you're wearing that ugly sweater because of a promise, you really don't have a choice!" Vriska adds.

            "Jeeze, I let you two go get groceries _once_ , and now you're teaming up on me!  It's not fair."  But, John takes a reluctant bite, then another.  Pretty soon, he's doing a good job at eating the whole piece.

            "I want cakes all the time," Vriska says around a mouthful of frosting that was once a red stocking.

            "You're mostly eating the frosting," Egbert points out.

            "Yeah, _but_ , I can't just buy the frosting and eat it right out of the carton!"  Vriska pulls a face.  " _Gross_."

            "Very true.  I suppose I could give you the recipe, so that you-"

            " _Fuck!_ "

            "John," Egbert scolds immediately, though it goes no further than his son's name; John is wincing, pulling out a piece of half-chewed cake from his mouth.

            "Sorry, dad.  But I think you dropped something in the batter.  Like a _brick_!"

            Vriska gives John a very skeptical look.  "What is it?"

            Egbert keeps a mild expression on his face as his son drops the piece to his plate with a _clink_.  He squishes velvet cake around until he can get the thing clean enough to make it out - a modestly sized diamond ring, perfect for breaking one's teeth on.

            John looks up, startled, and stares at Egbert, who stares back calmly.  "Would you look at that," he says.  "You found the ring."

            "The - what?"

            "It's a tradition," Vriska says flippantly, picking up a forkful of cake and staring at John over it.  Her pokerface is ruined by the small smirk creeping into her expression.  "If you get the ring, you're _totally_ going to get married!  It's pretty much destiny."

            John looks from Vriska to his father, then back again, and then pulls the cake-covered ring on his finger.  "Well, uh, that's a weird tradition that we have never followed, _dad_ ," Egbert raises his shoulders helplessly, "But I guess I gotta listen to destiny, huh?"

            "I'm afraid so," Egbert says.  John grins wide at him and he can't help but smile back, the moment lasting as long as it takes Vriska to lean over, grab John by the collar and yank him in for a kiss.

            He has a fair bet now that John will at least appreciate baked goods a little more now - making the whole thing a win-win situation.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And to all a good night!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOSH okay I hope this chapter is good for everyone. I had a lot of fun writing it and banged it out over the last few hours. I'll be taking a brief break to write the last two chapters of the year - both will be (hopefully) posted before 2012 - annnd that will wrap up the intense "here are a million chapters" part of Winter. I'll probably be taking a short hiatus in early January to plan out what I have to write next, annnd that should be about all as far as announcements go. HOPE YOU ENJOY!

            Feferi wakes up on the 25th to the sound of non-denominational holiday music playing from downstairs and the smell of cinnamon and pinecones.   She can hear conversation downstairs, and though she can't tell who it's between, she has a good feeling that she might've overslept a little.  She's just been so used to spending her nights staying up late doing homework that getting up at a decent hour during break seems a little silly!  But she knows that Rose and Kanaya are going to be making dinner, and since she offered to make the cookies, she's got to get up to ensure herself enough time.




            After she showers and dresses, Feferi leaves her room in time to see Kanaya and Jade heading towards the studio down the hall.  "Oh, good.  You're awake," Kanaya says, smiling.  "Merry Christmas.  Would you like to come help me for a moment?"

            "Kanaya's going to play dress up with us!" Jade says, grinning ear to ear.  "C'mon, Fef, let's see what magic she's worked."

            "Sure!"  Feferi follows them to the studio, where Kanaya shows them the dresses she's been working on for the last few weeks.  They're mostly long-sleeved, made of reds and blues and purples, and they're designed with the winter season firmly in mind.  Strangely enough, there are dresses that fit Feferi and Jade - well, it's not really _strange_ , since Kanaya always seems to think of her friends when she makes clothing.

            They try on everything that fits them, letting Kanaya poke pins through baggy bits and mark places that need to be let out with a piece of chalk, and when Jade jokingly suggests Christmas lights to really make the dress she's in shine, Kanaya actually considers the idea... for about five whole seconds.

            "I think we'll go a less garish route," she says, smirking at Jade's exaggerated pout.  Feferi laughs and pushes Jade lightly.

            "She just doesn't have any left over after she got the front yard decorated!"

            "Seriously," Jade grins, "You guys didn't pull any punches!"

            "Rose indulges my eccentricities," Kanaya replies, motioning for the two of them to turn in a slow circle, stopping them to pin and mark where needed.  "Which is why she has taken over cooking duties while we do this."

            "I feel so fancy in this dress," Jade says once Kanaya steps back to give them space to move around a little.  "It's like my rainbow sweater, because it's so comfy, but it's a lot more..."

            "Ritzy!" Feferi says, twirling a little.  "Though, aren't a lot of the models you design for... like, size zeros?  These are going to be a little big on them!"

            "Speak for yourself," Jade teases, "I'm just as skinny as those models."

            "These are for you," Kanaya replies, gesturing at them, "You can take them off now - Rose and I have decided that Christmas dinner will be quite the event for us."

            "What about Eridan?  I don't think he brought any fancy clothes," Feferi says, pursing her lips in thought.  Eridan doesn't really _have_ fancy clothes - nothing like this, at least.  Most of his clothing is fashionable and fitted, but not exactly fancy party wear.  Kanaya just smiles, taking Feferi's dress from her once she gets out of it.

            "Perhaps one of my other dresses will fit him," she remarks idly, which sends Jade into a little giggling fit.  Feferi knows, though, that if Kanaya found something Eridan liked, he probably wouldn't have any problem wearing it.  He wore a skirt once, after all - he had said it was a kilt, but she isn't so sure - but that had been a long time ago, so maybe he'd be more reluctant nowadays.

            Every time Feferi realizes she's not sure what Eridan would do nowadays, it hurts.  A lot of things about Eridan hurt her more than they did before; there's a distance between them now that she had never expected, not even when she had ended their moirallegiance.  She had hoped that, given some time, Eridan would've been all right with them just being friends, and once or twice it _did_ seem like they were friends again, even without the quadrant.

            And then he'd snapped.

            Feferi pulls her bright lavender sweater over her head and smiles at Jade and Kanaya's mock argument about the merits of using lights in fashion design, and wonders - not for the first time - how much of Eridan's mental state is her fault.  She knows that, logically, it would have been worse to try being his moirail (or matesprit) despite her own feelings, but sometimes she can't help but think that if she'd just _tried harder_...

            She shakes her head briefly and follows Kanaya and Jade back to the living room, determined not to think about things like that.  She'd promised herself she wouldn't let any doubts get in her way - she wants to try and rekindle that relationship with Eridan, and sulking over what happened last time won't help anything.  All she needs to think about now is how miserable Eridan is, and how obvious it is that he needs someone to lean on again.  Even if it's just a temporary fill, she wants to be that person for him.

            Kanaya heads back up to finish up the dresses, leaving Feferi with Rose in the kitchen as she sets her sights on baking some damned cookies.  She can hear Jade and Eridan in the living room, and when she looks into the living room, she can see them watching _Elf_ , despite Eridan's occasional yet vocal protestations.  Every time he tries to change the channel, Feferi sees Jade shove him aside and turn up the volume a few bars at a time.  Within ten minutes, the television is blaring, and Rose is making noises of irritation.

            "Jade, put on something not _awful_!" Feferi says, "We watched that _last_ night!"

            "But it's on again!  I'm supposed to watch bad movies so I have something to talk to John about!"  Still, she does change it, flipping through channels until she lands on _Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer_.  It looks like Eridan's satisfied, and so is Rose, so at the very least Feferi knows she can keep things from boiling over one way or another.

            The cookies are just being put in the oven when Kanaya announces that their dresses are ready.  Eridan looks perplexed.  "Dresses?"

            "Oh, of course," Kanaya says, "I forgot to tell you.  We have decided to have a formal event for our dinner."

            Eridan, dressed in one of his fitted turtlenecks and a pair of skinny jeans, doesn't look too interested in changing.  "But I don't have anythin'.  Besides, I'm fuckin' comfortable."

            "Merry Christmas," Kanaya says, smiling faintly, "Your present is an outfit from me to you.  You never know when you might need a nice suit."

            "What the fuck am I gonna go to that I'm gonna need a suit for?" Eridan gripes, but he doesn't resist when Jade grabs him by the sleeve to pull him up.  Feferi wishes she could take Eridan aside and use what she's heard John call a clue-by-four on him.

            "Life is full of surprises," Rose says, a tinge of almost preternatural amusement in her voice.  "I'm sure you'll look quite dashing, Eridan.  Don't make me blow up another one of your computers."

            "You only did that once," Eridan growls, pointing at Rose and ignoring Jade's continued pulling.  "An' I'm still not fuckin' over that, don't think that I am!"

            Feferi moves to Jade's side, grabbing Eridan's other sleeve and helping her roommate to pull the flustered troll towards the stairs.  "Don't be such a scaredy catfish, Eridan!  You love dressing up."  Eridan looks at her and Feferi feels herself tense, as though he's about to pull away or snap all over again - and she can tell he can see her reaction in the way his eyebrows knit together and the way his frown deepens.  She presses on, quickly, "And you'll get to see our dresses!  So c'mon!"

            His expression doesn't change as she and Jade half-pull, half-lead him up the stairs after Kanaya, but he doesn't resist their insisting hands any more.  Feferi doesn't miss the way his hand nearly grabs at her sleeve before going lax again, and she feels sort of awful for it.  It's not her fault, but that doesn't make her feel any better.

            Kanaya gives Feferi and Jade their dresses, shooing them off so that she can do some final checking for Eridan's suit.  It's not surprising in the least that she knows exactly what size Eridan is, but it seems to put Eridan off a little nonetheless.  Jade absconds to her room, giggling over her deep blue bundle of fabric, and Feferi closes the door to her own guest room with her foot, laying the dress out on the bed and looking at it as if she can see where Kanaya fixed it up.  The asymmetrical skirt looks a little less chaotic, but other than that, she doesn't notice the ways it's been changed until she slips it on.  It hugs her curves better now, in nearly imperceptible ways, and she smiles as she looks at it in the full length mirror, taking in the way the blue fabric shimmers like rippling water as she turns under the light.  It's clear that Kanaya could have given this to a designer, or maybe even a star on the red carpet, and that just makes it all the nicer, as far as gifts go.  The ruffles kick up a little as she rotates on her toe and she giggles at it.

            She must have lost track of the time, because there's suddenly a brief knocking at her door, and she imagines it's someone telling her to come show off.  "Come in!" she calls, considering her hair briefly and wondering if it would look better up or down.  She has no idea - that's what Kanaya's for!

            After a brief moment, the door creaks open, and Feferi blinks at the mirror as she sees Eridan lean in a little.  Before she can tell him that she'll be right out, he's slipping in and shutting the door behind him, leaning against it and watching her with guarded eyes.  It's the only expression he ever seems to have on his face any more when she's around.

            "Wow!" she says, forcing a smile to her face even though she feels suddenly and inexplicably uncomfortable with the situation at hand, turning to face him.  "Look at you!"  The suit he's wearing is, of course, fitted, with just one button holding the jacket together.  The fabric is a deep black, but she can see hints of a purple sheen to it when he shifts under the overhead lights.  "You look great, Eridan."

            "...Thanks," he says, uncomfortably.  "Uh, you look..."  He seems to lose momentum, and so Feferi tries to lead the conversation through casual topics, like clothing.

            "I think the ruffles might be a little crazy but I really like them!  Kanaya really knows how to fit a dress to a lady, that's for sure!"  She laughs, nervously, and he senses it, tensing and frowning with furrowed brows.  He moves forward, just a few steps, and Feferi suddenly wonders if this is why Eridan never hangs around her if he can help it - if he knew she'd start feeling uncomfortable the moment they were actually, physically alone.  The fact that he knows that about her, and she doesn't even know how _he_ feels at this moment irritates her.

            "Fef..."  He hooks his fangs over his lower lip and shifts on his feet - still wearing black sneakers - then finally manages to say, "I want you to know that I'm.  Never going to hurt you again."

            Feferi doesn't know how to even begin responding to that.

            "Look - it's been a long time now, and I'm... I'm not looking for quadrants, or anything.  I'm pretty fuckin' done with that shit right now.  It got me in a world'a trouble, an' I don't wanna go through all that rigmarole, so I'm not askin' you to come back to me, or anythin'-"

            "I would, you know," she blurts out, putting a hand on her throat briefly, as though she can reel the words back in.  "I would, if you really needed me to."

            "I don't need you to," he replies, and a pit drops in her stomach, but he continues without pausing.  "I don't _want_ you to, because.  Ugh, _fuck_.  Look, you were right.  It's too much fuckin' trouble, an' even here an' now I know it's _still_ going to be too much trouble.  But you followed me all the way across the stupid country, and I don't know why, but."

            He stops abruptly and so Feferi cuts in.  "I did it because I like you, you big goof."

            "That's what I don't _get_."

            "Maybe you're not supposed to get it," she says, tutting, crossing her arms over her chest.  "Maybe you should just accept it already, jeeze!"

            Eridan shifts on his feet and nods, slowly.  "Yeah.  Okay.  I can accept it, I mean, that's why I'm here and not back at the dorms, right?  But...  I need you to know that I just... want to be friends.  And I want you to know that I'm never gonna hurt you again, an' I'll _never_ let anyone else hurt you, an' shit, I know that sounds pretty fuckin' close to a flushed admission, but I promise, I'm just tryin' to-"

            "Eridan," Feferi says, "Shut up."  She moves forward until she's chest to chest with him, then pats his hair and kisses his cheek.  "We can completely do the friend thing.  That's what I want!  I want to be there for you, and I thought..."  She shrugs, smiling at his flushed cheeks, "I thought you were still kind of having a rough time with the friends-only thing, so if you had said you needed me back as your moirail, I would've done it for you.  Because I'm not going to let you hurt anybody."  She puts a gentle hand to his chest when he winces at her statement, looking at him pointedly.  "Specifically, _yourself_.  And if you decide that you want to try filling your quadrants again, without getting crazy about it like before, you let me know, okay?  Because I will be there to help you out, as a friend or as a moirail."  She pauses, thinks it over, then asks, "Sound good?"

            He stares at her for the longest minute of her life, then leans forward, resting his chin against her shoulder and putting her hands on her waist.  "Sounds fuckin' perfect."

            The tension in her muscles seeps out of her, and Feferi wraps her arms around Eridan's chest and gives him a squeeze.  She can feel the tension still there inside him, but at least when she pulls away from him he's giving her a crooked smile, the kind she was once very used to seeing.

            "I was gonna say, before I started babblin' - you look fintastic."

            Feferi laughs and punches him on the shoulder, lightly.  "You're using fish puns around me on porpoise again?"

            "Sorry," he says, and his smile grows a bit wider, into more of a grin, even as she turns him about-face and starts marching him to the door.  "I just couldn't kelp myself."

            "I can't bereef you."

            "You're just pushin' it, now."  She rolls her eyes and he opens the door, leading her out into the hall in time to see Jade gleefully burst from her room.  Her hair is piled up on her head, and there's a whole, thick wreath of small, multi-colored Christmas lights wound through the sloppy bun and resting on top of her head.

            "I got my lights!" she cheers, doing a little dance that she probably shouldn't do in a tight blue, knee-length dress that leaves very little to the imagination, as far as curves go.  Feferi's grip on Eridan's shoulders allows her to feel him tense, and she can practically feel him blushing.

            "Go for it," Feferi whispers into his ear, pushing him forward and sending him staggering a few steps.  He shoots her a look over his shoulder, pulling on the lapels of his jacket to straighten it out, but Feferi just smiles because this is one quadrant - or non-quadrant, she guesses - that she doesn't need pick apart when it comes to Eridan.  No matter how long he's away from her, she knows his signals.

            "Eridan, you look great!"

            "Uh."  He hesitates.  "You look pretty good too, Harley."

            "Pretty fantastic, I'd say!" Feferi says, and Jade gives them a curious look before beaming at her roommate, who smiles back and nods over Eridan's shoulder.

            Kanaya, appearing in the doorway of Jade's bedroom, gives each of them a scrutinizing look, her own red dress reaching mid-calf and having only one sleeve.  Finally, she nods.  "Yes, I think you all look very good."

            "All because of you!" Jade says, throwing her arms around Kanaya, who looks vaguely startled before hugging her back.  "This is the best present ever!  Thank you so much!"

            "I'm glad you all like my choices for you."  She gestures to the stairs, continuing, "Now, shall we relieve Rose of her cooking duties so that she can change herself?"

            Feferi and Jade go on ahead, and now when Feferi sees Kanaya stop Eridan and put a hand on his shoulder, she doesn't feel jealous or irritated at all.  "So, everything's okay now?" Jade asks as they reach the bottom of the stairs.  "Are you guys moirails again?"

            "Nope!  We're just friends."  Jade raises an eyebrow.  "That's just how I want it, to be honest.  It's better for both of us."

            They let Rose off of cooking duty and take over for her, finishing up the last bits and pieces; Feferi's cookies are cooling on a rack, and she hands them over to Jade for decorating as she puts the dressing in the oven to heat up.  The kitchen smells like roasted goose, which is pretty cool because Feferi hasn't had goose before - not unless you counted pâté, and she certainly doesn't.

            Kanaya wanders in a few minutes later and starts to gather plates together for the table, setting them next to a candelabra with three long, white candles stuck in them.  Someone clears their throat from the hall, and Feferi looks over her shoulder to see Eridan standing there, looking at Jade.

            "Uh, hey.  Harley."  He pauses, briefly, then tilts his head.  "Can you come with me for a sec?"

            "Um... sure?"  The human rinses off her hands and quickly dries them before following Eridan to the living room, where their voices are engulfed by the sound of _A Year Without a Santa Claus_ playing on the surround sound system.  Feferi stops worrying about the food for a moment and leans against the counter, unabashedly watching.  Kanaya comes to lean with her.

            "I pointed out that his gift might be better given in private," she says, amused.  "As relative as privacy is, of course."

            He's holding out a flat gift wrapped in the same silver paper as most of Rose's and Kanaya's gifts are in, and Jade hesitates briefly before taking it.  Feferi can see him reaching to fiddle with his scarf, then tugging on his lapel when he realizes he's not wearing it.  "He's so shy," Feferi says, and it sounds maybe a little more forlorn than she really means it to.

            "He's not the same as he used to be," Kanaya replies, gently putting a hand on her shoulder.  "It's not entirely a bad thing."

            Eridan's talking, though neither of them can hear what he's saying (mostly babble, from the way he's running his mouth), and Jade's hands are pulling at the paper and tearing it away.  It's flat book, which she immediately flips open; her hand goes up to her mouth and Feferi can practically sense her shock from all the way in the kitchen.  "What is it?" she asks Kanaya.  "Do you know?"

            "The first real pictures he's ever taken," Kanaya replies.  Eridan is holding up a hand, like he's asking for the album back, and Jade stares at the pages, flipping through them, before throwing out her arms and wrapping them tight around Eridan's neck.  All Feferi can see in the pictures from this distance is bright green and gold, but she's more interested in Eridan's reaction.  He freezes up, tensing tight as fishing wire, and then... he sags, and wraps his arms around Jade, holding on tight.

            Feferi manages to catch Jade's eyes from over Eridan's shoulder and gives her a thumbs up, curiously tilting it downwards with a curious, probing look on her face.  Jade gives her two thumbs up and a big grin.  "Must be some really nice pictures," she says, grinning wide at her friend before looking to Kanaya.

            Kanaya turns back to her plates.  "They really are."

            Dinner is done shortly thereafter, and after more food than any of them can really handle eating and more presents - including a replacement for Eridan's favorite scarf, accurate down to the tightness of the knit, and a new habitat for Reginald - they settle onto the floor and crack open Ms. Lalonde's gift of Cosmopolitan mix.  The rest of the night is spent singing Christmas songs in increasingly terrible pitches and, eventually, passing out on the floor together in a pile of blankets and comfortors pulled from various linen closets and beds.  Eridan doesn't hesitate to wrap an arm around Feferi when she cuddles up to him, and things feel _finally_ normal again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gamzee parties in Houston with some friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is almost twice as long as the average chapter, and I am so sorry for that. I got completely carried away with all the things I wanted to happen. Hopefully you like what I ramble on about, though! **WARNING** for a fair amount of recreational drug use.
> 
> Some of the songs playing in this chapter are: [The Kismesis Tango](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xphZkAiJve0), [The Slow Dance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHBvksGdhxA), [Auld Lang Syne](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mORHf13FPw) and [Auld Lang Syne - Remix](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF54uYmj2_0). The names are, admittedly, just what I call the scenes they relate to, but I think you'll be able to tell where they come in :B

            Gamzee knows everything that's going on with his best bro.  It's a motherfucking fact; Karkat tells him everything, and if he doesn't do it right away he does it after just a few prodding questions.  It's a part of moirallegiance, after all.  You have someone to share all your darkest little secrets and fears, and they hold you close and tell you it's all right, you're not alone and everything's going to be just fine.

            So that's what Gamzee does, twenty minutes before he, Tavros and Sollux are meant to set out for Houston in order to get there in time for the New Years Eve bash Strider's older brother is hosting at some supposedly ritzy establishment.  It's pretty dope, he's ready and willing to admit, and it's nice of Dave to invite Tavros and even let Gamzee tag along, even if they don't get on too motherfucking well.  But that doesn't mean that he's not going to bristle as Karkat mumbles into his shoulder about how much he hates Dave, how much he wants to make him bleed and how much that scares him.  Caliginous emotions are not his moirail's forte, and the fact that he's suddenly feeling them for the first time in his life (towards a fucking _human_ , loathsome as he fucking is, _grimy little fuck_ -) seems to be enough to make Karkat want to spill every bean he's got to spill.

            Tavros and Sollux are checking the engine, despite the fact that Sollux has no idea how a car even runs if it's not dominated by computers, and Gamzee uses the time to pet Karkat's hair and hook his leg over the other's knees, pulling him close.

            "It's not fucking fair," Karkat mumbles.  "And now I even sound like fucking _Eridan_ , Gamzee, this really fucking _sucks_."

            "Don't worry, best bro," Gamzee says, "I'll have some words with that motherfucker and get all this straightened out real quick."

            "No," Karkat snaps, without any venom.  He sounds like Mr. Whiskers once he gets pinned down for belly rubs.  "Don't even tell him I talked to you.  That would be so fucking humiliating.  I would rather choke on a bulge made of molten hot fucking lava before I let that fuckface know I'm acting like a little fucking wiggler about this shit.  It's not even a big fucking deal!  He's a human, he can't even _do_ this shit, just like he can't do moirallegiance right - and he's taking that fucking quadrant from Terezi, and he doesn't even realize that he's completely _ruining her life_ , and I just want to _strangle him_ until his _eyes_ -"

            Karkat shudders and goes quiet.  Gamzee pets his hair.  "It's all right, motherfucker.  This is just about exactly how this kinda thing is supposed to go.  You're gonna go drive out to see Terezi an' have a good fuckin' time, right?"  Karkat doesn't move, so Gamzee nudges him in the chest with an elbow.  "Right?"  He nods, reluctantly.  "See?  You're not even gonna think about Dave tomorrow night.  You're gonna be all wrapped up around your matesprit-"

            "She's not yet, I haven't-"

            "Practically all but, okay, motherfucker?  Just chill _out_ , Karbro."  Gamzee nuzzles the side of his head and pats the hair between Karkat's horns.  "It's all fuckin' gonna be _fine_."

            "I guess," Karkat snarl-whimpers into Gamzee's shoulder, and Gamzee just grins into his hair and nods until Karkat starts talking again.  "Just keep an eye on Sollux for me when you guys are out there.  I don't want Strider fucking with him again.  Can you believe he had the fucking nerve to tell me he wasn't being a two faced, bulge-guzzling liar about asking Sollux to move in with him?  Never fucking mentioned it afterwards.  Not once.  Sollux was practically manic the entire time until he asked him to come out for New Years.  It's so fucking stupid.  I don't know why he hangs on Strider's every fucking word."

            That's not exactly what Sollux does, as far as Gamzee knows, but Karkat's in a mood and it's always better to just let the motherfucker rant until it goes out of him.  He knows nobody thinks Karkat can ever stop ranting, but he's seen it happen plenty of times.

            "Don't worry about it, my palebro.  I'm gonna keep everybody in motherfuckin' line.  Nobody's gonna toe over that line without me knocking them right back into fuckin' place, quicker than you can blink."

            "Gamzee?" Tavros calls from down the hall.  "Uh, we're ready when you are..."

            "Just a minute," Gamzee replies, tilting his head to check that the door's staying closed.  Karkat's got mad issues with people barging in on their jam sessions, even if it's Tavros.

            "No, I'm good," Karkat mutters, pursing his lips against Gamzee's neck as he burrows his head further into their cuddle.  Cuddling Karkat is like cuddling a rancorous, spiny-backed woodland creature, but thankfully he's gotten used to cutting down on  his bristling for the most part.  Still, when Gamzee shifts just slightly, he's putting his claws into Gamzee's chest as he pushes away.  "Just.  Be fucking careful, Gamzee.  I know I'm practically fucking pushing into your own caliginous feelings and I don't want you flying face first off the handle into a pile of _bugshit crazy_ , so-"

            "Don't worry about it.  I've got Tavros with me.  He'll keep me in line.  'Sides, haven't had any fuckin' trouble with that guardian of his, even if we only talked once."  And that was through Facebook, some time ago when Gamzee had still been really struggling with his feelings towards Dave.  Before Tavros had put his foot down on it.

            Gamzee grins a bit as he remembers.  That had been a pretty motherfucking good night.

            They see Karkat off, watching him take off in his shitty car to go spend the next few nights at Terezi's.  It's a good fucking idea, Gamzee thinks - they need to sit down and have a real feelings jam about what they're doing with each other.  All he knows is that last time, they ended up talking about Dave for most of the time.  He has to hope that Karkat doesn't accidentally fuck up his matesprit prospects and slip into the ashen zone with poor fucking Terezi - it'd probably break her heart if she had to do that.  It'd be a motherfucking shame.

            Gamzee takes first shift in their long drive, and despite the fact that he's in charge of the radio, he lets Tavros and Sollux vote to put on Dave's Christmas remix.  The two of them fucking love it, and that's nice; Gamzee's not sure how he feels about it, is all.  He knows beats and despite Dave's unholy protestations and blasphemous motherfucking _words against the righteous truth_ , he knows Dave's style enough to feel how he fades in and out of focus.  He can hear the gravelly intensity in Karkat's five minutes, the strange sincerity in it even though he knows Dave is trying to do some kind of irony bullshit.  Aradia's spins in and out and in and out, deliberately, while Tavros's picks a steady pace that brings his matesprit to almost knock the window out on his side as he headbangs along.  And then Sollux's, dark and double-jointed and Gamzee can practically see the mustardblood's veins in the rearview mirror as he gets spineless over it.

            And then it sort of fades out, gets generic, comes back heavy for some creepy tune for Terezi that includes organs and, Gamzee's sure, some muffled lyrics hidden in it.  A riddle for the troll who loves puzzles.  Fades out on Vriska, hoofbeats for Equius -

            There's that strange, grimy sincerity again as Gamzee's bit picks up, and if he lets himself listen it sounds like a real fucking miracle.  And this time, it's not a bad one.

            He just doesn't know how to feel about it.  Probably won't until he can get real close and intimate with Dave and chat with him about all the fucking feelings going round.

            They stop every few hours to stretch their legs; it's a long, fifteen hour drive and they intend to go straight on through, the promise of free room service at the hotel Dave's guardian is DJing at New Years Eve drawing them on.  Gamzee smokes a whole joint over the course of his six hours, and when it gets dark and no more cars start showing up on the empty highway, Gamzee pulls over and says, "Hey, Sollux, let's give it a motherfuckin' spin."

            "Uh, no fucking way," Sollux replies, staring at Gamzee like he's crazy.  "I can't drive, GZ."

            "It ain't hard.  I'm doing it, and I'm fucking blazed.  C'mon, give it a try.  We'll go real motherfucking slowlike, you won't even break twenty."

            Tavros, surprisingly, doesn't seem too worried by this.  "I promise to keep an eye on you," he offers instead, earning an equally crazy stare from the mustardblood in the backseat.  Gamzee slides out of the driver's seat and stands, waiting patiently.  A minute later, Sollux hesitantly climbs out of the back and moves to the front, sliding the seat up almost a foot to accommodate for his slighter frame and keeping his hands tight on the wheel.  Gamzee leans back in the back seat and picks out a brownie from his bag, chewing on it as Tavros carefully and calmly instructs Sollux on how to pull out of park and into drive, how to signal to go back on the road, and soon they're cruising along at a steady twenty-two miles per hour, Sollux looking like he's about to have some internal organ explode.

            "Thith ith fucking crazy, you guyth, I shouldn't be driving, I don't have a lithence, what do we do if I get pulled over-"

            "Chill _out_ , man," Gamzee drawls, and he can hear that bitter sharp in his tone so he pops the rest of the brownie in his mouth.  "Don't worry none.  We got you."

            "Yeah.  Just think about telling Dave you actually, uh, drove.  He'll be impressed," Tavros says, smiling, cocking his head as much as he can with his horns in the way.

            "Yeah, he'll fucking teathe me about it, that douchebag."  Gamzee can see the smile trying to poke through the other's anxious expression, so he lets that comment go.  "I should pull over, I shouldn't be driving right now..."  But Sollux keeps going for a good ten miles before he finally pulls over of his own volition, and he and Tavros switch places.  They put on some trip-hop and Gamzee closes his eyes, and he doesn't open them again until the sun is starting to peek over the western horizon.

            "Man, I fuckin' passed out something awful," he grumbles, looking to see that Sollux is once again driving, this time going a nice, brisk forty-five.  He looks calmer, and a little sleepy, and almost confident.  Gamzee grins at him and gives him a sleepy thumbs up.

            "Yeah, you were pretty tired," Tavros says, dropping his hand back to reach out and grab Gamzee's, giving a little squeeze.  "We're almost, uh, there.  Sollux wanted to try again, so..."

            "Thith ith thtill fucking crazy but thomeone needed to give TV a break."  Despite his words, though, Sollux ends up pulling over soon enough, trading off with Tavros once more and leaning back his chair to get some sleep.  They're inside Houston within an hour, though, and after Tavros finds the hotel they're getting almost VIP treatment at, they load off their stuff and drag the half-asleep Sollux through the check in process.  The rooms aren't the nicest in the hotel, but that's comparing tyrian to purple blood; even if the nicer ones are far more elegant, that doesn't mean theirs are slim fucking pickings.  They even have motherfucking balconies, which makes smoking a whole lot fucking easier.

            Sollux disappears into his room and Gamzee and Tavros crash into bed without changing out of their clothes, Tavros stopping only long enough to properly hang up their nice suits.  Dave had been specific, and Gamzee doesn't really mind it - he thinks he looks pretty fucking good in a suit, and Tavros looks downright resplendent.

            They sleep in until almost one in the afternoon, until Tavros's phone goes off.  Gamzee, surprisingly, is the first to rise of the two, rubbing at his eyes and looking at the phone before throwing it at the wall, popping the battery out of the back.  He can already feel that he's woken up on the wrong side of the bed - never understood that, there was no _wrong_ side of the fucking bed - and so he sloppily climbs out and goes to the patio to smoke, pulling off his shirt as he goes and taking in the almost-warm air.  A few minutes later, Tavros steps out behind him, his phone in hand and no comment about its state to be had.

            "Dave's here," he says, "He wanted to know if we wanted to get lunch with him and Sollux."

            "Nah," Gamzee says.  Surprisingly, Tavros doesn't try to change his mind.  If anything, he looks pleased.

            "That's what I thought, so... I said we were ordering in."  Gamzee looks to his matesprit and watches, disconnected, as he reaches out and plucks the joint from Gamzee's hands, inhaling deep and not letting any smoke escape, even when he breathes out.  "I thought...  We might not get any free time tonight, so...  We could spend some time just, uh, relaxing.  You know."

            They pass the joint back and forth until it's completely burnt out, and Tavros takes Gamzee by the horns and pulls him in for a kiss.  It's lazy and slightly sloppy, and even as Gamzee realizes they're out of weed he can't think straight enough to mention it.  He presses Tavros's back into the glass door of the patio, tonguing the sharp edges of Tavros's fangs.  They spend a long time against that sliding door, Gamzee leaving faint marks all along Tavros's neck and shoulder, Tavros's claws digging into the flesh above Gamzee's shoulder blades, holding him close and rocking into him as lazily as their kiss.

            Gamzee's stomach is the first to give in, growling, and Tavros laughs breathlessly into his mouth.  "Okay, let's eat," he says, and though it takes ten more minutes of well-practiced fumbling and mostly-blind backwards walking, Gamzee pulls Tavros onto the bed with him, pulling the phone from the side table and holding it out.  They haven't looked at a menu, and when the room service operate responds, both of them realize that fact, staring at each other until Tavros giggles, snorts and says, "Just give us two of whatever's, uh, the tastiest."

            "I want a motherfucking mimosa," Gamzee says.

            "And mimosas."  Tavros pauses.  "What's a mimosa?"

            "No fuckin' idea, babe, but this place fuckin' screams _mimosa_."  Gamzee drags out the letters, trying to taste what the hell a mimosa must taste like through the word.  Tavros swallows thickly as he looks at him.

            They get four mimosas.  Why the fuck not?

            By the time the food gets there, they're in varying degrees of undress and Gamzee has to throw a towel around himself to keep from offending the serviceman, who stares blankly for a minute before rolling the cart in, introducing them to lobster ravioli and pointing out the mimosas for them before taking his leave without even asking for a signature.  They eat with their fingers in bed, drink all their mimosas and almost order more before a knock at the door cancels their plans.

            "Are you guyth even up?  It'th, like, four in the fucking afternoon!"

            "We're up, brother," Gamzee calls, and Tavros groans, leaning in to lick a few drops of sauce from his matesprit's jaw.

            "We need to take a shower," he murmurs.

            "Dave and I are going to go help hith brother get his shit together," Sollux continues, oblivious to the fact that neither of them are even really listening.  "I'll come get you when we need to go, okay?  Take a fucking shower and don't wathte more time!"

            "Yeah, okay," Gamzee calls, tilting his head and leaning back to look at Tavros in amusement.  "What has gotten into you, brother?  You're all sorts of up in my space today."

            "I don't know," Tavros says, shrugging.  "Maybe I'm just, uh.  Rewarding you for being okay with hanging out with Dave tonight?"  He grins and leans in, "Or maybe it's the warm weather."  Whatever it is, Tavros is mostly wandering hands, and Gamzee sure as hell isn't complaining.  But they should probably get cleaned up - with a little gentle nudging, he finally manages to get the other up.  The shower, it turns out, is only barely big enough for the two of them, and with Tavros's wide horns, he can't turn around much.  Gamzee makes it up to him by washing him down, making turning around or moving much at all completely unnecessary.  He doesn't mind the work, either; seeing Tavros leaning his arms against the wall under the showerhead, back arching into his hands, making low keening noises in his throat - it makes worshipping him easy.  He doesn't care if it's a reward or the warm weather; Tavros is motherfucking gorgeous when he's in the mood.

            For a lowblooded _piece of shit_.

            "I'm out of weed," he mumbles when they turn off the water.  Tavros doesn't say anything right away, grabbing towels first and handing one over to Gamzee before climbing out, turning to look at him as he towels off his hair.

            "We probably shouldn't have smoked the whole thing," Tavros admits.  "I'm sorry, Gamzee, uh..."

            "It's all good, baby."  Gamzee licks the skin just below Tavros's left eye.  "I got it.  Just thought I should let you motherfucking know."

            Tavros nods, but when Gamzee turns to the sink, Tavros squirms past him and out into the bedroom.  Gamzee doesn't think much about it; he blowdries his hair, wringing it out as he goes, and when he finally exits the bathroom Tavros is brushing his own hair out with a thick brush.

            "Uh, I asked Dave if he might be able to help out," he says, slowly, and Gamzee's not sure how to feel about that until Tavros continues, "He says his brother's going to come by."  The reason is unspoken but obvious, and Gamzee feels himself smiling a bit.  "That's okay, right?"

            "Sure thing."  It's only a few minutes later, when Tavros has taken over the hair dryer and Gamzee's only got his pants on, that a knock comes at the door.  He wanders over and slides back the lock, opening it enough to see glinting sunglasses and a sweep of thick, styled blond hair before throwing the door open the rest of the way.

            "Sup."

            "Not much, motherfucker.  C'mon in."  Strider doesn't say thank you when he enters the room, and he doesn't even glance at the troll in a towel in the bathroom.  "Nice of you to let your brother invite us down."  Strider's shoulders roll in a casual shrug as he wanders to the porch, sliding the mostly-closed door open with his foot.

            "Not a problem.  Dave's friends are my friends.  Besides."  He gives the troll a once-over, calculating, before letting this flicker of a smirk show on his face.  "I've got a thing for bards of all creeds.  You and me going to toke up, or what?"

            They don't smoke a lot - just enough for the more violent thoughts to subside, which is all he really needs - and Tavros comes out as Strider tosses his stash into one of the dresser drawers.  "Oh," he says, looking surprised and flushing slightly.  "I, uh...  Didn't realize you were still here, sorry.  I... just need to grab my clothes..."

            "On my way out.  I've got to help the band set up, now that my gear is in place.  The party's going to be pretty dull, I can't lie about that."  He shoots the both of them a quick thumbs up, almost too quick to see.  "But the after party is what you're here for, anyway.  I'll be back for the rest of that.  Head up to the ballroom when you can."

            Bro's gone before the two can say anything else, and once he is, Tavros is dropping his towel and going for his clothes.  "Not a bad motherfucker," Gamzee drawls, wandering over to get his shirt.  They get dressed at a relatively leisurely pace, and by the time Tavros is helping Gamzee with a pair of cufflinks from Kanaya - for Tavros, but she doesn't need to know who's wearing them - there's another knock at the door.

            "You guyth better be ready," Sollux calls.

            "Coming!" Tavros replies, raising his voice enough to be heard, before leaning in to kiss Gamzee briefly.  "Uh, I have to deal with my hair," he mumbles, "But you can head up, if you want."

            "Leave it," Gamzee says, a pleasant growl in his voice.  "Your hair always looks motherfucking spectacular all brushed out and getting in your eyes.  I like it."

            Tavros's blush returns, but he grins and nods, taking Gamzee's hand and pulling him to the door.  It's already six.  The time's jumping around a whole hell of a lot - not that Gamzee cares.  Like Strider said - they're here for the after party.  Sollux is standing in the hall, arms crossed and fingers plucking at his blue shirt's sleeves, looking more nervous than he did when he had been driving.  Tavros smiles at him.  "Dave wathn't wearing a thuit.  I look like a total nerd," he says, sulking, but Gamzee shakes his head.

            "Don't think a thing about it," he says, slapping a hand on Sollux's shoulder and making him shudder briefly from the force.  "Let's go get our party on."

            They take the elevator up to the top floor of the hotel, using a key card to reach the ball room at the top of the building.  It's a big, open space, with tables scattered around a large dance floor and tuxedoed waiters setting up a buffet styled deal along the far wall.  The ceiling is half-made of skylights, and near the DJ booth is a full swing band, already past the tuning phase and into the warm-up songs.  There are already people here; not too many, but a decent amount of humans and a small handful of trolls to make them feel less like sore thumbs.  Tavros's hand is nervously squeezing Gamzee's, and he does his best to keep his matesprit comfortable.  The Strider brothers are visible, mostly by their hair and their flashing sunglasses, doing something with the sound system that none of them can figure out.

            Dave stands once they get close to his brother's gear, and Gamzee can hear Sollux inhale sharply through his nose, hissing on exhale.  "You're a real douchebag," Sollux says to the human as he heads over to them, adjusting his shades as though there's nothing wrong with the fact that he's wearing a blue shirt with his red suit, mirroring Sollux's alternate red shirt and blue suit.  Gamzee pulls out his phone, contemplates texting Karkat to apologize for not being able to keep these two ridiculously dorky motherfuckers apart, then thinks better of it and tucks it away again.

            "Man, it's like I knew what you were going to wear," Dave drawls.  Gamzee sees his brother watching from the DJ booth.

            "You know I only have a blue thuit, you fucker."

            Tavros's horn brushes along Gamzee's shoulders as he leans in to whisper, "Dave is trying, uh, really hard."  He sounds almost triumphant.  "Does he, uh.  Do you think that's cool of him?"

            Gamzee smiles.  "The coolest," he says, and he's almost completely sincere.

            The band picks up, and once the Striders are done with their preemptive arrangements for later, they go with the trolls to dish up some delicious, classy food.  They sit down near the back, watching people dance and mingle as the crowd grows ever larger; at one point a waiter comes by and, without seeming to have asked anyone, serves all five of them mimosas.

            "What the fuck is this for?" Strider asks, but Tavros just smiles at the waiter and lifts his glass without saying a damned thing.  Gamzee watches him drink and waits for the moment when they'll be alone again.  Dave and Sollux end up ordering two more rounds, then Dave tries for a jello shot, but they don't have them.  Sollux looks downright sad about that until Dave gets him a shot of tequila to make up for it.

            The elder Strider wanders off to check on the sound systems as the band picks up, and Tavros pulls Gamzee up.  "We, uh.  We're dancing, okay?"

            "You got it, babe."

            Neither of them have any idea of how to dance to swing music but they try anyway, and Gamzee can feel himself sobering up as he and Tavros take turns leading.  The thoughts, though - the niggling irritants that usually drive him to smoke - they don't show up once.  Not as long as Tavros is laughing and leaning in and daring little kisses from him while tasting like champagne and citrus.

            As they wind down for a song, Dave appears behind Tavros, tapping him on the shoulder.  Tavros leans forward and turns to avoid hitting his friend in the face with his horns.  "Mind if I step in?"  Dave nods towards Gamzee, but before either of them can speak he says, "I've got to get my own juggalo fix, here."

            Tavros looks startled, glancing at Gamzee, mumbling without saying anything at all.  Gamzee looks at Dave, then Tavros, and finally nods.  "Sure, brother.  Let's swing."  Tavros steps back hesitantly, but Gamzee doesn't wait to grab Dave in what he figures is pretty close to the right way to lead someone, pulling him into some kind of sort-of-swing dance.  "What's the special motherfucking occasion?  Aren't you afraid I'm gonna get my mirthful murder on?"

            To his surprise, Dave smirks.  "You wouldn't.  Not with Tavros around."  Before Gamzee's blood can even start simmering, the human continues, running through a half-dip as though it's nothing, "Just thought I should clear the air.  My bro likes you.  Figure we should make sure we're on the same page in the multicultural exchange pamphlet.  No black-romming my brother.  He's off-limits."

            "What makes you think I want a motherfucking thing to do with your brother?"

            "You wanted to be kismesises with me, right?  My brother's the pinnacle of Strider swag, bro.  You wouldn't do better than him."  Gamzee notes that, unlike at dinner on Thanksgiving, Dave doesn't have any trouble pronouncing "kismesis."  "But as far as I care, you're chill.  Sure, you're creepy as fuck," somewhere along the line Dave starts to lead, and Gamzee lets him, "And I know you were trying to psyche me out with that pie at Thanksgiving, but you're banging Tavros and that pretty much makes you extended family.  We're downright blood brothers."

            Gamzee tenses just long enough to throw Dave off the dance pattern, but he doesn't try to lead with it.  He knows the comment about blood is deliberate, and he knows it's probably supposed to rile him - but somehow, it doesn't.  Somehow, it's okay.

            "I think that's all fine by me," he drawls, and Dave's brows briefly furrow before he nods.

            "Cool."

            "Now, you gonna tell me what your intentions are with my motherfucking moirail, brother?  Or are we gonna have to have real private words about that?"

            "Oh my god, he's crying about it to you now."  Dave doesn't sound surprised in the slightest.  "I don't have any mad designs on Shortround."

            Gamzee slips some quick footwork in and suddenly begins leading again.  Dave doesn't _quite_ falter.  "Then stop antagonizing him, before you lead him too far down all those wrong fucking roads."  Dave frowns, but doesn't say anything.  "Karbro just isn't cut out for messing around with all these motherfucking hateful vibes you've been throwing his way, and I'm not gonna let you hurt him."

            They dance for a while together, long enough that Gamzee can feel three sets of eyes staring at them, and then Dave says, "Yeah, okay.  Same rule as you and bro.  Good dog, no kismesis."

            Gamzee grabs Dave's hand, twirls him in a way he can only barely keep up with, then pulls Dave close and leans in, baring his teeth slightly.  "I don't remember saying a motherfucking thing about that, brother."  He can hear Tavros moving towards them, can practically feel him, so he ducks his head to Dave's ear, feels the human tense up, and says, "Any motherfucker who pronounces _moirail_ wrong in front of a guy like Karkat but _kismesis_ right in front of a highblood who feels all sorts of caliginous moods is plenty able to be in both of those quadrants, I think."

            Dave shudders slightly when Gamzee pulls away, and Tavros's hand is gently insistent on Gamzee's shoulder so the troll lets go.  Sollux is standing off to the left of them, looking torn.  Dave looks at Tavros, then tilts his head towards Sollux.

            "I think we're all good."  But before Gamzee can step back, Dave holds up a fist.  Gamzee grins lazily and bumps his own fist against it, then turns to Tavros and shrugs.

            "We're cool," he says.  Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Dave approach Sollux and grab his wrist; he doesn't even think about calling Karkat to apologize.  He figures everything will balance the hell out eventually.

            The band makes an announcement at five minutes to midnight, telling everyone to find that special someone for their New Year's kiss.  Gamzee pulls Tavros in for the slowest song of the evening and they sway against each other, and it feels domestic, sober and nice.  Dave and Sollux are at the bar for what might be the fifth time that night, drinking and watching the crowd, and Tavros is humming faintly against his cheek.

            "I think I could get into this swing thing," Gamzee mumbles.

            "It's, uh, pretty nice."

            A waiter weaves his way past the two of them, stopping to hand them long, plastic noisemakers.  Tavros grins and pushes his into Gamzee's hair, earning a chuckle, and it stays there up until the band ends their song and picks up with a low drumroll and the start of that song Gamzee has come to know as the New Years song.  It picks up and everyone around them surges into a more lively dance; they sway until they're caught up in it, and when the band calls out a minute warning, they barely hear it.

            "Maybe we should try and grab Dave and Sollux," Tavros says.

            "They're fine."

            The countdown starts and the crowd roars, " _Ten, nine, eight_ ," the band dies down, " _Seven, six, five, four,_ " Gamzee catches a glimpse of Dave and Sollux at the bar, knocking two shots together, and at, " _Three, two, one,_ " they swallow them down together.  There's no kiss, and Gamzee thinks he's actually gotten off without failing Karkat.  Then, Tavros is kissing him hotly, with mostly his tongue and just the right amount of teeth.  The band throws itself into the last bit of the New Years song, the singer shouts, " _Happy new year!_ " and then the lights almost completely out.

            "Now for what you're really here for," Strider's voice echoes, completely deadpan, and he throws the sickest remix of that same New Years song at the crowd so hard that everybody's just gotta _drop_ _it_.

            Tavros's kiss doesn't let up and it only makes the way the dancefloor is suddenly more close-quarters than before that much better.  People Gamzee doesn't know are brushing all around them as they dance, whooping, and people pop champagne bottles and it's electric in all the best ways.  He can feel his phone vibrating with text messages, but the way Tavros's hands are in his hair, he's not about to check them at all.

            Dave and Sollux wind up next to them, shouting something about the time, and Gamzee growls into Tavros's throat before pulling away.  They're both panting and neither of them know how long they've been liplocked, but Sollux looks disturbed and Dave looks mildly impressed, so Gamzee figures it's been a while.

            "Bro's gonna wind down soon," Dave drawls, his accent showing in every syllable, and they look pretty wasted.  "Said we're going to your room for the end party."

            "I owe him one," Gamzee says, and Tavros grins, throwing his hair back with a hand.

            "Sounds fun."

            It's almost four thirty when the party finally comes to its official end, and once Strider has organized all of his gear and gotten it packed up for pickup, the five of them make their way back down to Gamzee and Tavros's room.  As Gamzee puts his keycard in the lock, Dave reveals a bottle of champagne - one of the expensive ones that had spilled over the floor at midnight - and Sollux drifts off to his room, returning before they even close the door with a few more glasses to accommodate them all.

            The room is clean and for a second Gamzee is nervous that they might've found Strider's stash, but it's right there where they left it and it doesn't take long for Gamzee and the elder Strider to wind up on the patio again.

            "Three hours, thirty-two minutes and fourteen seconds," Strider says as he passes the joint over.

            "What?"

            "You and Bullwinkle over there were making out on my dance floor for three hours, thirty-two minutes and fourteen seconds."

            Gamzee laughs out his smoke and shakes his head.  "Fuck, man."

            "Give or take a few minutes where you were mostly breathing on each other's faces."

            "Bro," Dave shouts from the bedroom, "That's fucking creepy, dude, don't tell him that."

            "Shut up and drink your champagne."

            Sollux stumbles onto the patio and pulls the top few buttons free on his shirt.  "Let me try that," he says, insistently grabbing at the joint in Strider's hand.

            "Look at you."  Strider tilts his head towards Gamzee, who shrugs, then holds it out to the mustardblood.  "Bro, I'm defiling your pristine little boyfriend.  Is that cool?"

            "You should know," Sollux says before Dave can respond, and spends a hacking minute trying to actually get the smoke to stay in his lungs.  Once he manages to do it, he stumbles back in and collapses at the foot of the bed next to Dave, using his psionics to wrangle the remote from Dave's hands despite the human's slurred protests.  Tavros takes his place on the patio, conducting himself a lot more motherfucking knowledgably.

            "Thanks for, uh, letting us come out for your party," he says, smiling at Strider, who shrugs slightly and doesn't respond.  Inside, Dave and Sollux are arguing about the merits of watching infomercials, and Gamzee can't help but think that sounds like a pretty good idea.  A real chill thing to do - kick back and watch some information spewing commercials full of miraculous inventions.

            He budges past Tavros and Strider, leaving them on the patio so that he can flop onto the bed, lazily watching something about the Slap Chop while Strider and Tavros chat quietly on the balcony.

            "Dave, c'mon and have a smoke with me," Strider calls at one point, and Gamzee closes his eyes, opening them to find Tavros sleepily falling into bed with him.  Dave is giggling about something, his face buried in Sollux's hair, and Gamzee can hear the troll shushing him.

            "I'm trying to watch thith, you giggling freak."  It's a PBS special on insects.  Gamzee chuckles and rolls his eyes to see Strider sitting in the desk chair, sipping at champagne from the bottle.

            "Yo, brother."

            "Sup."

            "You throw one motherfucking wicked party."

            "It's not really my party, if we're going to all be throwing around possessives so continuously.  It's just a party at a place I have connections at."

            "Either way, motherfucker."  Gamzee sees smoke and arches his neck to see Dave smoking inside the room - Strider doesn't seem to mind, so he sure as hell doesn't - and he looks away when he sees him lean close to hand the joint over to Sollux.  "Karbro's gonna be pissed at me about this, Solbro."

            "Soulbro," Dave says, "Soul brossa fucking nova," then breaks out into fresh laughter.  Sollux flips Gamzee off.

            "Fuck KK, I can drive now, he can thuck my binary bulgeth."

            Dave cracks up even harder, gasping for breath.  Tavros reaches forward and slaps him on the back until he can breathe again, Gamzee's chin hooking over his horn lightly.

            Gamzee catches Strider looking at him and raises an eyebrow.  A twin one arches on Strider's face.

            "You're welcome," the human says finally, "For the party."

            Gamzee chuckles and rolls over to throw his arms around Tavros's neck, feet kicking the headboard before rubbing against his matesprit's.  Sollux shoves Dave away, then pulls him close again and starts giggling a little himself, and Strider leans back, pushing his feet onto the desk and going still.  Maybe passing out.  Gamzee distantly hears his phone shut down in his pocket, but he doesn't think to plug it in.

            "Gamzee," Tavros says.

            "Sup?"

            "You were right," he mumbles, trilling slightly as he wriggles closer as best he can.  "This place?  It's completely _mimosa_."

            Gamzee nods, chuckling, and presses his nose into Tavros's hair.  "Definitely motherfucking mimosa."

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Terezi end 2011 with a bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had this chapter written up on the very last day of 2011, but I unfortunately overslept so I didn't have time to edit and post until today. :( Oh well! This chapter marks the beginning of a short hiatus for me, so that I can get a bit of a buffer going, chapter-wise, and also because I'm going to Anime Los Angeles and won't be able to write much during it!
> 
> Over on [SeasonsStuck](http://seasonsstuck.tumblr.com)'s tumblr, I'm going to start doing in character answers to questions, though, so if you're interested in that sort of thing, head on over. I hope everyone had a happy new year, and I hope that this year proves to be awesome.

            Karkat knows that everyone thinks he overreacts to pretty much every fucking thing that the universe can possibly throw at him.  It comes with his bristly, irritable personality, with his proneness towards rants and flipping his shit on a regular fucking basis.

            But the nerves Karkat's feeling build up in every last inch of his internal organs are not an overreaction.  The way his hands can't settle on ten-and-two (fuck John and his driving lessons, ten-and-two is a shitty fucking place to put your hands, it's better at three-and-nine or sometimes six-and-out-the-window), the way his musical tastes change every two minutes despite the fact that the song he was just listening to really _resonated_ with him just two minutes earlier, the way his eyes are starting to ache with all the relatively empty road...

            None of that's a fucking overreaction.  He's restless and there's a million fluttering insects in his stomach (stomach is an ugly word), and driving is like moving without any fucking effort.  Except it's a movement that doesn't calm his nerves or his anxiety.  Sollux had suggested that this might happen, had suggested that maybe he should just let Terezi come to him since she drives long distance all the time, but that wasn't how Karkat wanted to do things and no amount of faux worry from his _not_ best friend could have stopped him.

            Thinking about Sollux makes him feel a little nauseous, too, because until Strider sent that stupid, unsentimental gift through e-mail and had apparently asked Sollux to come to Houston for New Years, the lisping bastard had been so fucking cagey with him that if they'd put a mullet on him he would've been able to take down a plane full of convicts.  Then, suddenly, his best friend switch flipped on as soon as Strider _blinked_ in his direction, and it was pathetic.

            No.  He's being pathetic.  And he _is_ overreacting.  Just because Strider is a worthless piece of trash that doesn't deserve anyone's time, much less someone like Sollux's time, and just because Karkat wants to choke him (against that shitty truck of his, it was so cold and the snarl in Dave's voice had gone straight _through_ him-), that doesn't mean that Sollux can't decide to like the bastard.

            He has every right to feel however he wants, even if Karkat has to remind himself what Gamzee said about this whole black crush bullshit every five minutes in order to remember that.  He had pet Karkat's hair and had said in that creepy-sweet tone he uses sometimes, "The motherfucker'll get all up in your think-pan and keep you from seeing reason at first.  You'll just want to see everything wrong with him an' everyone else who _can't_ see what's wrong with him will look like complete motherfucking morons.  It happens."

            They _are_ all complete morons, but Gamzee's right.  They're not morons for liking Dave, because Dave is okay.  Really, he's not that bad, he's just egotistical and selfish and can't see anything beyond his stupid ironic defense mechanisms and _fuck_.  Stop.

            Karkat flips through a dozen more songs in his attempt to not think about Strider any more.  He's got bigger things to worry about, anyway - like the girl he's driving to see, to spend one of John's professed _most romantic nights_ with.  Terezi's been putting up with enough of his own weird fucking Strider hangups.  Somewhere inside him, he's sure that he's just been using his failed kismesissitude with Strider to avoid his anxiety over this matespritship thing with Terezi, the thing that's been practically number one in his Big Book of Romance since before SGRUB.  It's not that he doesn't want to commit, because he _does_ , but he's fucking awful with relationships, he knows that for a fact, and he's kept putting it off.  Besides, SGRUB had been such a fucking crazy day and there was no time for romance there, and then coming to this new universe and setting up shop had been a whole other ball of complicated filth, and shit, he's making excuses again.

            He flips through some more songs and swears to himself that he's going to do this right, and he's going to tell Terezi that yes, of course he wants to be with her and all their talks and feelings jams weren't for nothing, and he's going to kiss her at midnight and _oh fuck he's never kissed anyone before_.

            Well, no one alive, anyway.

            Another ten miles go by before the minor pulmonary embolism that realization triggers in him gets under control.  He really needs to calm down.  He knows that, and so he takes a few deep breaths and pulls over to get gas and pick up something to eat.  Anything to distract him for a little bit.  When he gets back on the road, he feels calmer, and his incapability to stay on one song for too long disappears.  Instead of thinking about things negatively, he consciously chooses to think about making some resolutions, like the kind John always makes before a new year.

            Like it matters, since John never cuts down on junk food or starts going to the gym or anything shitty like that.  He just gets lamer and more stupid.  But it's the thought that counts, he figures.

            "Alright," he says, sick of listening just to the music and the sounds of his long drive.  "Resolution number fucking one: kiss Terezi."

            Okay, good.  He knows he can do that.  It's simple, specific, and it requires him to man up, which is okay by him.  Resolution zero has to be "man up," then.  Okay, he's fucked up the order already, but he can deal with that.  It's the Baseline of Resolutions, or something.

            "Resolution number two: punch Strider in the face."

            Another simple and specific one, and this one he knows he can do.  He'll probably do it without thinking.

            "Resolution number three."  Shit.  He doesn't know what else he should resolve to do in the new year.  He rolls his eyes, "I'll fucking eat healthier or some shit, I don't know.  Who fucking cares.  This fucking drive is taking too long.  For my fourth fucking resolution, I'll engineer a way to teleport myself from place to place so I don't have to fucking drive _ever fucking again_."

            He considers the merits of teleportation, and how much easier getting around had been in the Veil - and then he thinks about how, if Terezi moves in with him, he won't really ever want to go anywhere else.  Something close to a smile tugs at his lips, and with no one there to call him on it, he lets it stay.

            Karkat reaches Terezi's apartment around nine at night, and he parks almost directly beside the stairs that lead up to her place.  The nerves are back in full force and he tries his best to hold them back, flexing his fingers as he grabs his backpack and tosses it over his shoulder.  He considers texting Terezi to tell her he's here, so he doesn't have to stand outside her door and wait like a fucking loser, but then he remembers his baseline resolution and scowls, marching up the stairs with all the purpose he can muster and knocking on Terezi's door so hard that it rattles.

            "Somebody's in a mood," Terezi says as she opens the door, and Karkat immediately feels cowed despite the grin on her face and the amusement in her tone.  He always gets dumbstruck when he comes over to her place, and from the way she sniffs the air before laughing in her throat, she knows that.  "Come inside before the neighbors come asking what that earthquake was all about."

            He shuffles in, entirely too awkwardly for anyone's taste, and when the door closes behind him, Terezi's sweeps him into a hug.  He bristles instinctively, just for a moment, but she just squeezes it out of him and he finds himself sagging into her, bringing his own arms up to wrap around her and _fuck_ , past him was a neurotic bastard for freaking out over seeing Terezi again.  Past him is always neurotic about Terezi, though.  He should've expected as much.

            "Hey," she says, and he presses his nose into her far-too-fluffy sweater.

            "Hey."

            The moment passes so suddenly that Karkat almost doesn't notice; it's replaced by another as Terezi grabs his hand and drags him to the couch.  She pushes his backpack off his shoulder, plops him onto the sofa and then, without any ado at all, she collapses next to him and drapes her legs over his.

            Some little, metaphorical switch is flipped and a lot of his higher brain functions shut down.  "I found a movie we'll both like," Terezi's saying, and all he can do is nod stupidly as she flicks through her television's various connections and sets up some shitty old human movie.  Before she presses play, though, she looks at him with sincere curiosity and asks, "Are you hungry?"

            "Starving," he says, and his voice cracks a little.  Her lips curl in a wicked grin and she leans in close.

            "Well," she says, and he knows she's doing this on purpose, and she's probably made a million resolutions to do all sorts of things to Karkat, "What should we get?"

            It's like he can hear Jack in his head - the okay Jack, not the insane First Guardian Who Wants To Kill Us one - saying, **You wanted to man up, didn't you, kid?**

            It's not the right moment at all, though.  It's an eve too early and there's nothing romantic about talking about ordering fucking takeout because they're hungry.  There's supposed to be some kind of gesture first, some swell of music or a sea of candles or -

            You know what?  _Fuck it_.

            Karkat grabs Terezi by the shoulder and crashes his mouth against hers, eyes screwed shut and teeth clacking against hers sharply, and his entire skeleton is made up of steel beams and barbed wire.  That is, until Terezi's arms loop around his shoulders; when he feels her sigh against his mouth and feels her chest heave against his, the tension eases out of him slowly but surely.

            He doesn't do much more than keep his mouth pressed against hers, the initial teeth-to-teeth contact gone now that they aren't grimacing or mid-question, but it's nice to feel her so close.  Seriously, past him is going to fucking die later on, when he realizes just how much of a monumental idiot he's been for so fucking long.

            Terezi mumbles against his mouth, and he pulls back, face hot despite the fact that it takes a whole fucking lot for him to blush.  "What?"  His voice doesn't even sound like his own, raspy and too quiet.

            "I was thinking Chinese," Terezi repeats, idly.  Karkat feels his heart do the most ridiculous backflipping somersault off the handle, the entire crowd cheering at just how fucking magnificent a leap it is, the one that's going to win the fucking pity parade Olympics for sure, and he exhales slowly to keep from letting it reach his mouth and spew out across the air.

            "Okay."

            Terezi's hand reaches up, running through Karkat's hair before patting his cheek, and she looks completely unphased by what's just happened.  "Good."

            As Terezi digs her weird, turn-dial phone from under the couch, butt pressed into Karkat's hip and feet hooking around the fluffy armrest to keep her from sliding off the couch, he can't help but ask the most pathetic, obvious question in the world.  "So... does that mean-"

            Or try to, anyway, because Terezi's already cutting him off with a, "We practically already were this whole time, numbnuts."

            "...Oh."  Terezi laughs at his expression and at the utterly stupefied tone of his voice, and he can't really blame her.  That was pretty fucking stupid of him.  Just like Gamzee had said - they had been all but matesprits and now...  No more avoiding it.  They just _were_.  His heart lands with a splash in a sea of fluffy sweaters and the pity Olympics shut down because there's no way to even compete with that spectacular display.

            Terezi dials a number from memory and speaks Spanish for almost five whole minutes; Karkat only knows it's Spanish because she uses the phrase "por favor" a few times.  She doesn't move from her contorted pose, not until after she hangs up and pushes her phone back under the couch; then, she reaches out and grabs Karkat by the back of the neck and uses him as leverage to haul herself back up, now almost completely seated in his lap.  "Humans sure are weird," she says, "The ones at the Chinese restaurant only speak Spanish, but the guys at the Mexican restaurant only speak English.  It's a little backwards."

            "Yeah."

            "Are you going to be completely tongue-tied tonight?" she asks, and he feels his slack-jawed expression twitch more towards a smile.

            "Yeah."

            "If I'd known a kiss was all it took to shut you up, I would have employed that tactic so much earlier!"  She's cackling a little; it's the sweetest sound Karkat's ever heard, and he kisses her again because of it.  Or just because he can, who knows.  He doesn't care.  Her cackle turns to trilling and then to quiet purring, her hands digging into his hair, and she's more than a little harsh with the way she pulls at his hair and rubs at his horns, but it's okay, because it's exactly what he imagined she'd be like.  Her fangs knick his lower lip, but in a way that doesn't make them bleed, and he groans into her mouth at that weird caution of hers.  He knows she can still get by on smell and taste alone, never mind her eyes, and he knows she's dying to get a taste of his blood and has been for as long as he can remember.  The fact that she's waiting drives him crazy.

            He pulls away for air, reluctantly, and then asks, "Do you still want to watch that movie?"

            "It's Alfred Hitchcock," she says, as if that's an answer.  He assumes it means yes, though, because she's grabbing at the remote and tapping play, her arms still curled around his shoulders.  She can't rest her head on his shoulder, because of how sharp her horns are, so Karkat does it instead.  It's more comfortable, anyway, and even as Terezi begins to slowly hint at spoilers for the plot, Karkat can't get it in himself to be irritated by anything at all.

            The food comes a little later and they pause the movie long enough for Terezi to haul in big Chinese food cartons of noodles and beef.  When they settle back down onto the couch with the cartons spread out on the cushions around them, Karkat picks out rice with chopsticks and Terezi thoroughly questions him as to how he can possibly have the patience to use chopsticks when he can hardly handle waiting for the pizza guy half of the time.

            "I don't know," Karkat admits, "They're completely fucking useless, humans _are_ fucking weird, but I just..."  He shrugs, almost helplessly, and he has to avert his eyes at the way Terezi is staring at him, analyzing him without any mind powers whatsoever.  "It's just something I can do, shit.  It's not that fucking weird, is it?"

            Terezi arches an eyebrow and Karkat is reminded, viscerally, of Strider.  Shit.

            "Okay, stupid question."

            She smiles and picks pieces of spicy Mongolian beef out of a carton with her long claws, and then gets thoroughly distracted pointing out all of the emotional tells of the characters on screen.  Karkat rolls his eyes at every exclamation involving legal jargon, but that smile that had taken over his face is only growing, not fading with exasperation or annoyance.

            The movie turns out to be fucking amazing, and when it's over he and Terezi spend a full hour and a half deconstructing it, dragging the conversation to bed with them as they curl into Terezi's overly plush, overly tiny bed.  Karkat finds himself suddenly exhausted  the moment they're lying down, and he falls asleep with Terezi's claws massaging the spots where his horns meet his scalp.

            He wakes up ten hours later to an empty bed, and he briefly flips out mentally until he smells the bacon in the air.  Terezi's kitchen is a fucking disaster, but she knows her way around it better than anything, and he knows full well that she's a master at breakfast, so he doesn't question it.  He just wanders in and leans against the counter as she flips a pancake that looks a little too much like him for him to be completely comfortable.

            "I thought you'd be going for a full fifteen hours of beauty sleep," Terezi says without looking at him, but the tone of her voice proves to him that he hasn't done anything to fuck this up.  "Ready for some delicious pankats?"

            "...What?"

            "Pankats," Terezi repeats, tossing the last pancake onto a plate and holding it out to him.  He realizes every single one looks like him, and he scowls at her back.

            "You are so fucking weird!"

            "Tavros calls them karcakes, if that's better?"

            "Oh my fucking god.  You made pancakes shaped like me for _Tavros_?!"

            "And Gamzee," she drawls, turning on her heel and dropping a handful of bacon onto his plate.

            "Oh my god.  I have never been more fucking offended and disturbed in my life."

            "I sincerely doubt that!"  With a cackle, she piles her own plate high with pancakes and bacon, then pushes him towards the living room, stopping to grab syrup on the way.  "I usually serve them with cherry syrup, but out of respect I'll keep it to maple."

            He throws a piece of bacon at her, scowling when she catches it in her teeth.  Fucking preternatural reaction times.  But the truth is, he really isn't that offended; it's mortifying, sure, but at the same time...  It's kind of sweet.

            Karkat shows his hand when he offers to do the dishes; Terezi's quick to abscond the moment he suggests it, going off to get her ablutions while Karkat rinses plates and pans, pausing long enough to text Gamzee, _You were fucking right, you miraculous asshole_.  His moirail doesn't respond, but Karkat's not surprised; they're probably still passed out after that insanely long drive.

            Which reminds him about Dave and makes him sneer at the dishes.  He refrains from breaking anything, though, but when Terezi comes back to the living room in a hideously bright pink robe, his sour expression hasn't faded.

            "Oh, no," she sighs.  "You're thinking about Dave."

            "I'm not."  He knows it's useless to lie to her, especially when he answers in such a broody tone, and so he sighs and pinches his nose.  "No, fuck.  Yes, I am.  Sorry.  I just..."

            "I'm sorry," Terezi says, and it's a sincere apology, complete with her curling into his side and kneading his shoulder with her claws.  "You'll get over him, and we'll all be better off."

            "It's so stupid.  He can't even appreciate caliginous feelings, I don't know why I let myself get carried away.  I'm such a fucking moron."

            Terezi's nails dig into his skin and he snarls a little.  "Stop beating yourself up about it.  Now, come on.  We'll go see a movie or something."

            Reluctantly, Karkat agrees, and by the time they're both dressed and heading out the door, he has to admit that he does feel a little better.  He just has to keep from thinking about Strider, that's all.  Not like that hasn't proven itself to be fucking impossible.

            But Terezi seems to be even more capable of distracting him now that their quadrant has been properly defined; she touches his hair or the back of his neck at just the right moments, and when they go to the movies to see some shitty romantic comedy about troll and human celebrities on New Years Eve, she entices him to make out during the most boring parts.

            They go grocery shopping - of course, for them, that just means beer, a bottle of champagne and some sloppy Joe mix - then crash back at Terezi's apartment and turn on a music countdown show of the top however-the-fuck-many songs.  Terezi kisses Karkat a few times, and Karkat returns the favor in as many unexpected moments as he can, but for the most part they just do horribly sappy shit, like play with each other's hair, drink each other's beer, find new ways to curl into each other, and talk about maybe going out for the evening.  They decide against it when they realize they've spent two hours lazing around without thinking anything of it, and that they're not inclined to change anything.

            It's almost ten-thirty by the time they run out of beer, and Terezi turns on the recorded broadcasting of New Years in Time Square.  Karkat wonders what it would be like to go to New York City - he's been to Kanaya's, once, but big cities really haven't been a thing for him yet.

           Terezi's teeth meet Karkat's ear and he forgets all about Times Square, his eyes clenching shut without his permission.  She knows how to use her tongue, and she makes it abundantly clear, drawing noises out of him as she licks and sucks at his ear, his jaw, his lower lip.  He kisses her with more finesse than the first time, having gotten pretty fucking good with all the practice they've had today, and she purrs into his throat as he runs his tongue over her fangs.  He's not sure, but he thinks she likes it because it's edging close to actually getting his blood in her mouth.  Kind of creepy, but hey.  She'd been stuck being blind for so long that she's developed some fucked up quirks.  He can't blame her for that.

            He presses his tongue against a sharp tooth and slides, feeling it slice through his tongue just a little.  It stings, but not much, especially since Terezi's immediately sucking on the wound.  He shudders as she moans faintly, bringing his hands to rest on her hips, nails digging in so that he can pull her forward.  She goes willingly, her legs sliding over his thighs until she's straddling him, pressing her full weight against him.

            It's all Karkat can do to keep from rolling his hips, but no matter how hard he tries he can't help but pull her downwards, relishing in the feel of having her sitting in his lap, her hands in his hair, tangling up in it.  He doesn't even realize he's growing bolder until he pulls away from the kiss, ducking his head to bite lightly at her neck, not enough to draw blood - her sweater is white, and he knows she'd kill him if anything got on it - but enough to leave a bruise.  She's growling in his ear, the sound rumbling through him, and when his hand slips under her sweater to touch her bare skin, he can feel her trembling.

            He's unable to help feeling shocked by the fact that he's the one getting these reactions out of her.  He wonders what else he can get her to do.

            Terezi's hands reach out and grab his from her hips, dragging them around to the fly of her pants, and that's a pretty clear fucking indication of how far he might be able to get her to go.  He trails sloppy licks up her throat, reaching her mouth and kissing her hard to hide the nervous shaking of his hands.  He manages to undo the fastenings without looking like a complete moron, but he hesitates again once he realizes he doesn't know how far she wants to go.

            "It's going to be a new year soon," Terezi murmurs suddenly.  He frowns.

            "Yeah?  So what?"

            "Don't you want..."  Oh god, she's got that dumb grin on her face, the same one Sollux has when he makes shitty fucking - "To let it go out with a _bang_?"

            Karkat groans and drops his head to her shoulder.  "Oh my god, Terezi, you don't need to _prove_ you're worth my pity with the shittiest fucking jokes possible."

            Terezi cackles, pulls his head back up by his hair, and crashes their mouths together, mostly teeth and tongue.  She bites his tongue to keep him from making any more comments about how shitty that joke had been, and even though he's got some real fucking doozies lined up, he isn't too upset that he doesn't get to use them.  Her hands are on the fly of his jeans and he has to physically force himself not to buck even into that relatively innocent touch, but when she pops the button with a tittering cackle into his mouth, he realizes he's doing a pretty shitty job of restraining himself.

            His phone is jamming uncomfortably into his hipbone, and when Terezi pulls back to squint at his zipper and give them some air, he pulls it out.  Before he can toss it aside, it buzzes with a text from Sollux.  He realizes that it must be midnight for him, and that he's probably partying with Strider right now and _fuck_ -

            Terezi looks at him from under her lashes, raising an eyebrow.  He stares at her for a long moment, then very purposefully tosses his phone over the back of the couch.  "Fuck it," he growls, because despite the complete and utter cheesiness of Terezi's shitty little quip, going out with a bang sure as fuck sounds more pleasant than dealing with Sollux's shit.  It's probably just some happy new years bullshit anyway, and he's got more than enough good tidings sitting in his lap to go around.

            Fuck the new year, this one is where it's at.

\--

(719) _ii thiink ii'm moviing 2 la wiith striider thii2 year._

(719) _2orry._


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux and Karkat finally talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I had to take some time off for real life stuff, including various convention things. BUT WE'RE BACK! And we're starting off with a nice, polite conversation between Karkat and Sollux. (You know I'm lying because "polite" and "Karkat" don't go hand in hand at all.) Anyway, I hope to resume my general updating schedule, though we may go up to 5 days between updates. I hope you guys enjoy this :)

            The dust has mostly settled now, but Karkat is still imposing a strict embargo on talking to Sollux.  When he'd gotten back to their place, Sollux had sort of hoped for some silent treatment - after all, listening to Karkat bitch is even more obnoxious when he's actually upset - but it's long past the point of idiocy and now they're in the realm of complete fucking insanity.

            He's really not sure what to do, either, given the fact that he doesn't have a license, and despite his two driving attempts in the last days of 2011, he's pretty sure he's nowhere near prepared to drive around by himself, much less on city streets.  He normally wouldn't even consider leaving, but Karkat's silent loathing is becoming almost physically palatable, and it's not a good taste.

            Gamzee has come over once since dropping Sollux off, but even their moirallegiance hadn't been enough to goad the other into talking, and besides, it seems like Karkat's almost more angry at Gamzee than he is at Sollux.  Which is weird.  Beyond weird, even, because Gamzee doesn't have anything to do with what Sollux and Dave are doing.

            Whatever that is.

            It's by the end of week three of Karkat's embargo that Sollux finds himself slowly snapping.  Hearing Karkat slam the door on his way out frays at his already irritated nerves, and when he hears his roommate come back after some hours out - probably bitching to John about his life - Sollux finally groans and pushes himself away from his desk.  Without waiting, he lashes out with psionic energy, blue and red snapping at his door and throwing it open.  He sees Karkat staring at the brutal overuse of energy with a slack jaw and smirks, throwing out more than enough energy to knock the other to the ground.

            To Karkat's credit, he doesn't say anything; he just snarls and spits like a cat trapped in a burlap sack, snapping his jaws at Sollux as he approaches.  "All right, you fucking douchebag," Sollux says, surprised to find his own voice less menacing than he'd intended it to be.  He just sounds tired and irritated, instead of hostile and ready for a fight.  "We're fucking talking right now."

            "I don't have anything to say to you," Karkat snarls, the first words Sollux has heard directed at him in weeks.

            "Yeth, you _obviouthly do_ , otherwithe you wouldn't be acting like a huge fucking wiggler about me wanting to move out!"

            Karkat doesn't respond and so Sollux presses him into the floor with blue-red energy, snarling a little himself as he sits firmly on his friend's stomach, settling his weight so quickly that it knocks the air out of Karkat for a brief moment.  "What ith your fucking damage, Vatath?  I know you got shot down by Dave, but not everything he doeth ith to pith you off!  _Thurprisingly,_ the world doethn't revolve around _you_.  Thtop being so fucking melodramatic and have a real fucking converthation with me about thith for onthe in your mitherable fucking life, okay?"

            He lets go of Karkat, the energy petering out between them, and Karkat responds by socking Sollux in the jaw.  The scrawnier troll reels backwards a bit, but the punch is lacking any real force, and it's more like a physical manifestation of Karkat's usual bitching than an actual attack.

            That doesn't stop Sollux from reaching down and backhanding the other, though.  Fuck that noise, he's not going to let Karkat get away with hitting him.  "Feel better now that you've gotten thome of that out?" he asks.

            " _No_ ," Karkat snarls, but he crosses his arms over his chest instead of trying to hit Sollux again.

            " _Whatever_.  Are you going to talk to me, now?"

            "No."

            Sollux groans and pinches the bridge of his nose, pushing his glasses up so that he can stare at Karkat without the lenses blocking his look of aggravation.  "Okay, _fine_ , I'll do all the talking, just like I _alwayth_ do.  I'm moving with Dave to L.A. to be nearer to Aradia, and altho tho that I can be nearer to Dave.  We've covered that, right?"

            Karkat glares.  Sollux takes that as a yes.

            "Fucking - alright, tho, you hate Dave.  More than even black romance entailth, and for who knowth _what_ reathon.  He'th a complete athh, okay, yeth, but he'th not a bad perthon, and-"

            "He's just going to fucking dump you once he realizes that he can't handle all your fucking moodswings!"  Karkat's turning red in the face, and Sollux realizes he's actually _livid_ about this whole situation.  "He _is_ a fucking bad person, and just because you don't know that yet doesn't mean you should just fucking gallop into the sunset with him at the first wink he sends your fucking way!  All he's going to do is hang out with you once or twice a week, find some fucking girl to hook up with, and then kick you out when he wants her to move in with him instead of _you_!"

            Sollux stares at Karkat for a few minutes, then purses his lips.  "And what do you think wath going to happen when Terezi moved in?  Karkat, you complete fucking idiot, I wath probably going to move either way, you know."

            "I wouldn't have made you-!"

            "No, but it'th going to be fucking awkward, lithtening to you two filling pailth through the fucking wall.  And Dave _likes me_.  It'th a better idea than me moving out on my own, and you know that!"

            "Dave doesn't _like you_ , he just thinks you're fucking ironic or something!"

            Sollux barks out a laugh, "Like fucking hell he doeth.  And you know what?  Even if he did, he _liketh irony_ , tho nothing changeth."

            Karkat starts to squirm under Sollux, so the troll puts a hand to his throat and pulses just enough energy to keep him pinned down.  "Let me fucking up, you lisping, scumsucking, shiteating nookstain, before I-!"

            "And _I like him_ ," Sollux says, and Karkat falls silent.  "Tho even if he thinkth I'm cool because I'm ironic, or even if he thinkth I'm a huge fucking nerd that wouldn't know cool if it bit him on the fucking bulge, it doethn't change the fact that _I like him too_.  We like each other, Karkat.  He'th a nerdy, dorky fuckhead who probably can't thtand the idea of living alone, much leth moving to California and leaving hith guardian and motht of hith friendth behind, and I'm a lonely, nerdy fuckhead who doethn't want him to move too far away for me to thee him more than one or two timeth a year.  _That'th_ why we want to move in together."

            Karkat doesn't say anything for a while; he just stares at Sollux, almost uncomprehendingly.  Finally, he says, almost as though he's getting it for the first time (and that wouldn't be a surprise, since Karkat is fucking terrible at signals), "You actually pity that hamheaded shitstain of a human being."

            Sollux tries hard not to laugh at the utter confusion in Karkat's voice, but he fails to contain it all.  He chuckles a little and shrugs.  "Thomeone hath to, he detherveth it more than anyone I know.  Even you, and that'th a fucking feat."

            Karkat squirms again, and this time Sollux lets him; he ends up straddling Karkat's thighs as the other pushes himself into a sitting position, his own long arms serving to keep him propped up.

            "You seriously pity him.  I mean, _him_.  Out of all the people - Feferi, Aradia, _Eridan_ , out of _any other viable option_ , he's the one you're flushed for?"  Karkat sounds as though he can't decide whether or not he's just confused, or also incredibly hurt by the admission.  Sollux can understand it - being flushed for your best friend's hatecrush isn't exactly the best thing for a friendship - but he's not about to let it get in the way.

            "You did _not_ just theriously put _Eridan_ in the thame category as FF and AA.  You did _not_."

            "I fucking did, because even he's a better choice than _Dave_."

            Sollux sighs and pushes his forehead against Karkat's.  He knows he's bordering on redrom here - flushed or pale, he's not sure, but he's always been more fond of Karkat than any of his other friends, and sometimes they just wind up in these situations.  Karkat kind of requires red tinted relationships.  He's terrible at the black ones, after all.  "Look.  You don't have to like it, but I'm going to need you to accept it.  You're my betht friend, you idiot.  You're going to have to let me make my own choiceth once in a while."

            Karkat's ears are even turning a little pink, and he mumbles, "We're still friends?"

            " _Yeth_ , KK, jeezthe.  You need to thtop athking that every time we have a fight.  It'th not going to change."

            Neither of them say anything for a while after that.  Karkat still looks as though he wants to yell, but Sollux just sits there until the expression fades to more of his usual disgruntlement.  After a while, Karkat shoves at him, but there's no force in the motion.  "My legs are falling asleep.  Get off of me."

            Sollux snickers and pushes himself off of Karkat, though his legs are still lying on top of the other's.  "Feeling better about it?" he asks, grinning when Karkat flips him off.  "C'mon, let'th crack open the Jager and watch one of your shitty movieth."

            Without waiting for Karkat's response, the scrawnier troll pushes himself up and heads downstairs to the fridge, pulling out the green bottle and grabbing a couple of glasses; he goes to the living room to find Karkat standing at the foot of the stairs, contemplating something with a seriously thoughtful look on his face.  Sollux arches an eyebrow and shoves a glass into his hand before he can get too carried away by pretending to actually think about things.

            Sollux doesn't really like Jagermeister, but Karkat has a weird thing for black licorice so he tolerates it for his best friend.  They lounge together on the couch, Karkat keeping an arm against Sollux's even as he gestures to the television screen at some shitty romcom John had lent the other.  He talks throughout the whole movie, and Sollux feels like everything is back to normal.

            "I don't want you to leave," Karkat says, suddenly, almost in the middle of a diatribe about the lead characters and how they suck.

            "What?"

            "I don't want you to leave," he says again, grinding it out this time.  Sollux looks at him, but Karkat is staring at the screen.  "Not because of Dave, even though I fucking hate him, and I hate the idea of you leaving me for him, but.  I just.  ...I don't want you to leave me."

            "I'm not going to never thee you again or anything, KK."

            "I know, but.  Like you fucking said, man, if you move all the way out to California, I'll only see you when you come out for fucking Thanksgiving or Twelfth Perigee, or something.  It'll be fucking shitty.  Even with Terezi here, and Gamzee living kind of close..."

            Sollux takes a sip of his drink and notes that Karkat's on his third glass - no wonder he's being so open.  "I know it'th going to be hard.  But it'll be okay, really.  It won't be the end of the world."  He reaches over and pats Karkat's head, Karkat swatting at him without expecting it to do anything.  " _You_ 'll be okay.  You have other friendth.  And we're both online too fucking much to actually miss each other."

            Karkat nods a little at that, and it looks like he might actually believe Sollux, who takes that as a major fucking win.  He knows Karkat hates the idea of him leaving for millions of different reasons, but he also knows Karkat isn't thinking about the future clearly enough.  When Terezi moves in - and it's only a matter of months, now, Sollux figures - Karkat will find a new routine and move on with his life.  Just like Sollux is hoping to do with his own life - in a lot of funnily similar ways.


End file.
